The Warriors’ Second Front at Home

Investigators have concluded that the scandal of the shamefully neglected outpatients at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center is likely a systemic problem afflicting wounded veterans at other military hospitals. This is only one of the disheartening findings by a panel that reported a “perfect storm” of troubles afflicting Walter Reed. These ranged from the Army’s failure to anticipate the high flow of casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan to the “Byzantine” ratings system that puts soldiers through four separate hearings to determine — or discourage — their needed level of care.

Decrying an “almost palpable disdain” toward outpatients, investigators found treatment had been hobbled by personnel shortages that were compounded by the Bush administration’s use of privatization as a cost cutter. Such supposed savings, in a war with a runaway budget, must end immediately.

But these are mere symptoms of the “greater dysfunction” across the Army’s medical program uncovered by the panel. Members concluded that the Pentagon is failing to deal adequately with the signature wounds of the Iraq conflict — the thousands of cases of brain damage from roadside bombs and of post-traumatic stress disorder. It is crucial that the Army create the “center of excellence” recommended by the panel to specialize in research and treatment of these grievous scars of brain and psyche.

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Haunting the Walter Reed scandal is the question of how such neglect and mistreatment could ever be the fate of men and women routinely hailed as heroes. One panel member’s answer framed it as a problem of denial: “The nation needs to realize we’re at war.” American families, far too many of them, personally know the price of the war. It is the White House that is in denial. It is past time for it to provide America’s soldiers the care they are owed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/13/opinion/13fri3.html?_r=1&oref=slogin