When service members are injured or killed due to medical malpractice, they (or their next of kin) can't sue the military. This is due to a decades-old Supreme Court precedent called the Feres Doctrine.
Instead, they have the ability to file a claim with the Defense Department under the SFC Richard Stayskal Military Medical Accountability Act, which determines whether or not the military is at fault.
Claims data since 2020 from the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps show that only 10% of those claims have been approved.
Among the claims denied was one for Master Sgt. Richard Stayskal, an Army Green Beret whose lung cancer was misdiagnosed as walking pneumonia and allergies.
Stayskal is also the namesake for the law that forced the Defense Department to stand up this claims process.
Read the full story from @PattyNieberg here:
https://t.co/NZbmIJxfGq
NEW: The Defense Department has designated its press office a classified space and banned journalists from accessing it to meet with the public affairs officers who have traditionally answered their questions, people familiar with the issue tell The Washington Post's @ScottNover.
In service since 2009, the MK17 SCAR-H is being replaced by the MK24 Mid-range Gas Gun-Assault that can fire both 7.62 NATO and 6.5 Creedmoor...good for ranges out to 1,200 meters.
Full story here: https://t.co/hlGMVN7eds
At 19 years old, Army Pfc. Mace Veit successfully made it through Ranger, Airborne, Air Assault, and Pathfinder school — and all in a single year. https://t.co/DC3mignSTE