Military Doctors Neglected Sergeant Carmelo Rodriguez’s Melanoma for Eight Years
In 1997, upon examination by a military physician, Marine Corps Sergeant Carmelo Rodriguez was told that a dark spot on his buttocks was a wart. Later examination of his medical records, however, shows that military medical personnel noted an abnormal spot on his right buttocks, and went on to describe the suspicious spot as a melanoma. Sgt. Rodriguez was not informed of these observations and none of the examining physicians recommended follow up. After eight years of being misdiagnosed by military doctors, Sgt. Rodriguez decided to go to a specialist where he was diagnosed with skin cancer. It was too late. The cancer was already ravishing his body. Once a healthy and vibrant young man, Sgt. Rodriguez died 18 months later at age 28 while holding the hand of his seven-year-old son. Under the Supreme Court’s erroneous ruling in Feres, the family of Sgt. Rodriguez cannot pursue justice for the negligent medical care he received while serving his country.
Chaos in Military Hospital Turns Routine Surgery Into a Death Sentence
After a routine surgery for acute appendicitis in 2003, Air Force Staff Sergeant Dean Witt, 25, stopped breathing while being transferred to a recovery room. An understaffed anesthesia team failed to resuscitate Sgt. Witt. Sgt. Witt was then brought into a pediatric unit where they attempted to revive him using devices meant for children. Medical personnel at the military hospital began to chaotically scream at one another. After a failed attempt to insert a breathing tube, the tube was eventually correctly inserted, but by then, Sgt. Witt had already sustained irreparable brain damage. Three months later, Sgt. Witt’s family removed him from life support. He left behind a wife and two children, including his four-month-old son. His lawyers advised his family that they could not sue due to the Feres doctrine.
Feres Doctrine Immunizes Civilian Doctors from Liability in Military Facilities
Colonel Adele Connell, who has served in the US Army for more than 34 years, underwent breast cancer surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., in December 2008. Because of her cancer risk, the plan was to perform a therapeutic mastectomy on her left breast and a prophylactic mastectomy on the right, with lymph node biopsies on both sides. However, as Walter Reed medical records show, the attending surgeon (a civilian who was formerly an Army doctor) “incorrectly believed the known invasive cancer was on the right side.” When the attending surgeon was unable to locate the sentinel lymph node on the RIGHT (wrong) side, she proceeded to remove 17 axillary lymph nodes. A sentinel lymph node was also removed from the LEFT side (where the carcinoma was actually located). No cancer was found in any of the removed lymph nodes.
The Operative Report reveals that the surgeons learned of their mistake only when they spoke with the Col. Connell's daughter and after the mastectomies had been carried out: “It was she [the daughter] who corrected us and noted that the known cancer was actually on the left breast, which was contrary to what our mindset was in the operating room. We reviewed the preoperative notes and noted that this indeed was the case, that the left breast was the breast with cancer.” A claim has been filed with the US Army Claims Service under the provisions of the Federal Tort Claims Act, but the Army has made it clear that it intends on relying upon the Feres doctrine to deny her relief. Colonel Connell is now left with tingling and burning in her right arm and no protection from future infections (lymphedema).
