"The Stars and Stripes Tuesday, March 24, 1992
Whistle-blowers still fielding flak
Reprisals continue despite protection law
By Pete Yost The Associated Press WASHINGTON--The Army tries to fire a civilian scientist after he criticizes the Pentagon's "Star Wars" program. A senior technician
Are you kidding?
I am a subspecialty surgeon, practice in a remote area. I love what I do, I believe that I do it quite well. Great patients, nice varied case load.
HOWEVER, I wouldn't do it again for all the tea in Tetley. No way. I unknowingly made my family - my KIDS - pay far too high a price in my absence and chronic fatigue during too many years of training. Nothing is worth taking out this level of debt before you even have a real job (about 165k; the debt, that is). The debt has forced me to be more concerned about money than I ever thought I would be.
I do not advise anyone to go into medicine currently. The liability is too high, the expense is rapidly outpacing the remuneration, lawyers and Medicare view us as a potential revenue stream and nothing more.
DALLAS (AP) -- Some military whistle-blowers have been forced to undergo psychiatric evaluations and been sent to mental wards as intimidation or reprisal, a newspaper said Sunday, quoting current and former service members. The Pentagon denied the allegations. The Dallas Morning News investigated 27 psychiatric cases involving the military and found most of the service members involved had spotless records until they challenged the system. It didn't say how the cases were chosen. The newspaper examined nine cases in detail in its three- month project. In one, Capt. Denise Kirkland, an Air Force surgeon who complained about shoddy practices at the Little Rock AFB hospital, was told by her supervisor that she had suicidal tendencies and was ordered to have a psychiatric evaluation in San Antonio. Another involved Army Staff Sgt. William T. Murphy, who complained in 1988 about how a friend had been treated by a superior at the Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. A series or reprimands followed, along with a 30-minute psychiatric examination that reached a "diagnostic impression" Murphy had passive-aggressive traits. He asked for his record to be cleared. The newspaper interviewed Kirkland and Murphy, and examined court documents in Murphy"s case. The House Armed Services Committee has held hearings on psychiatric abuses since 1987 and continues to prod the Pentagon for reforms. "It is intolerable that military whistle-blowers should be intimidated by such an insidious tactic and that those responsible should go unpunished," said Rep. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. Chester Paul Beach Jr., the Defense Department"s acting general counsel, said the Pentagon is strengthening its policies at Congress" urging to ensure that psychiatric evaluations are not used against the whistle-blowers."
|