Newspaper Report: Smaller Military Hospitals Pose Risk to Patient Safety

Many military hospitals – such as Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma – are small and underused, leading to high rates of inpatient medical errors, according to a recent report by the New York Times.

There are 54 military hospitals in the United States and overseas that provide inpatient services to 1.35 million active-duty service members, long-serving retirees and their families. The Pentagon is working on a plan to scale back the military hospital system, which is entirely independent from efforts to reform the scandal-ridden Veterans Affairs (VA) system.

Compared to leading civilian hospitals, many military hospitals have high rates of surgical and maternity care complications, according to the article. The Times attributes the high error rates to low patient volume and to military policies.

‘Out of Our League’

Two-thirds of military hospitals last year served 30 or fewer inpatients per day, and nine served 10 or fewer per day, the article reports. That’s less than a third as many as most civilian hospitals. With beds empty, doctors and nurses are not able to keep their medical skills sharp, according to the Times.

Military hospitals also differ from civilian hospitals in the way they choose administrators. In the military, administrators are typically experienced clinicians, while civilian administrators tend to hold advanced degrees in business or health management.

“Our young docs don’t have senior docs mentoring them. We have orthopedic surgeons, brain surgeons, thoracic surgeons, urologists, all in administrative jobs,” Michael E. Menning, a health care administrator who spent 24 years in the Air Force, told the Times.

Because doctors, hospital commanders, and patients constantly rotate from post to post, continuity of care also suffers and has been exacerbated by the outflow of military doctors and nurses to the Iraq and Afghanistan war efforts.

The confluence of issues at military hospitals has some veterans of the system wondering whether the military should be involved in health care at all.

“It’s a dangerous game,” John Schaefer, former deputy commander for clinical operations at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, told the Times. “It is crazy that the military doesn’t say, hey, we are really good at outpatient medicine and this inpatient thing is out of our league.”

Medical Errors at Madigan Army Medical Center

Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma is one of the hospitals currently being reviewed by the Pentagon for quality of care, patient safety, and access to treatment. The Times obtained a draft downsizing plan – expected to be made public soon – and the initial results indicate widespread problems at the 198-bed, 123-inpatient-per-day Madigan.

According to a Times interactive graphic, 16,310 surgeries and 2,503 deliveries were performed last year at Madigan, and the hospital had a high rate of complications in both areas. Madigan had error rates that were more than two times worse than those at leading civilian hospitals in the following safety categories: trauma to infant during birth, shoulder dystocia, and maternal trauma with instruments.

Do you believe you, your child, or another loved one has received substandard medical care at Madigan or another military hospital in Washington? Contact the Seattle malpractice lawyers at Morrow Kidman Tinker Macey-Cushman, PLLC for a free consultation about your situation.