Gates’ candor on hospital woes lauded - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Gates’ candor on hospital woes lauded

While lawmakers don’t have much good to say about problems combat-injured soldiers are facing with the bureaucracy and their living conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, two key senators have high praise for how the new secretary of defense is addressing the problems.

Sen. John Warner, R-Va., the former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Defense Secretary Robert Gates has struck the right tone with him. Gates has addressed the situation “with unusual candor,” has been open to congressional oversight and to correcting problems “very quickly,” Warner said.

The current Armed Services chairman, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., agreed. “I thought he was very direct and nondefensive,” Levin said.

Gates said Friday that he was “dismayed” to learn some injured service members “were not getting the best possible treatment at all stages of their recovery, in particular the outpatient care. This is unacceptable and it will not continue.”

The House defense appropriations subcommittee, chaired by Rep. John Murtha, R-Pa., plans a closed-door hearing Friday to hear from senior defense and Army officials about reports of problems with care for injured service members who are being treated as outpatients at the Army’s premier hospital.

The Army has been rushing to repair unsafe and unsanitary living conditions, and several independent reviews are underway to try to cut the red tape and bureaucracy that have resulted in problems with medical appointments and fair treatment in seeking medical disability retirement ratings from the military.

The Senate Armed Services Committee also plans an open hearing March 6 to determine why nothing was done to correct problems until conditions facing the injured combat veterans were reported in the news media.

One reason Gates won praise from the Armed Services Committee members is that he did not try to cover up the problems or blame the media for sensationalizing the plight of a few combat veterans, a defensive posture that Army officials initially took after the first news reports. “I'm grateful to reporters for bringing this problem to our attention, but very disappointed we did not identify it ourselves,” Gates said.

“The men and women recovering at Walter Reed and at other military hospitals have put their lives on the line and paid a considerable price for defending our country,” Gates said. “They should not have to recuperate in substandard housing, nor should they be expected to tackle mountains of paperwork and bureaucratic processes during this difficult period. … They battled our foreign enemies; they should not have to battle an American bureaucracy.”