Soldier Recounts Abuse at Walter Reed (Sexual Fondling)

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Washington Post

Two months before Mario Alberto Echeverri administered a sleep disorder test to an Army corporal at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the medical technician had been arrested for fondling the groin of a U.S. Park Police officer.

Seventeen months before, Echeverri had been observed touching a Walter Reed patient inappropriately and was warned against such behavior. Two years before, he had been accused of improperly touching a patient at a private sleep center in Gaithersburg.

Cpl. Matthew Burgess knew none of this when he went to the Army hospital the evening of April 21, 2004. Echeverri gave the soldier sleep medication, asked him strip to his shorts, connected him by wire to monitoring equipment and had him lie down. The test was part of a study of whether Burgess's headaches, fatigue and diarrhea were connected to the anthrax vaccine he received when he was deployed to Iraq in 2003.

While the machine monitored Burgess, a surveillance camera captured Echeverri fondling the drugged soldier while he was helpless to respond, court records reflect. Tapes show the technician engaging in similar conduct with two other male patients, one an active-duty soldier and the other a 16-year-old boy, according to records and interviews.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/06/AR2007040601991.html?hpid=moreheadlines

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Note the offender was hired by a private contractor!

[leftchick]

1. what do they call the care there again?

The Best Anywhere? See how far the US has sunk? :puke:

[leQ]

2. it's this suff that give us all a bad name. (n/t)

[Aviation Pro]

3. So when are the inevitable....

...pictures of amputees forced to stack themselves in a naked pyramid going to come out?

I apologize in advance if I offend anyone's sensibilities, but I am so ashamed of my country right now that words just fail me.

[w4rma]

5. In this country he was caught. This time the system worked. (nt)

[Aviation Pro]

8. True, but he never should have been allowed to get this far....

...the damage has been done.

[w4rma]

9. More damage could have been done. (nt)

[LeftyMom]

13. he molested a 16 year old boy and two adult men, that we know of.

That is quite enough, thank you. Suggesting otherwise minimizes both the nature of this crime, and it's preventability had a proper pre-employment background check occurred.

And unfortunately, I say that as somebody who suffered something similar as a teenager (in my case, a nurse practitioner with a real funny idea of what a breast exam is for) and has far too much idea of how damaging and traumatic this sort of behavior is.

[lakeguy]

15. less damage could have been done. nt

[originalpckelly]

4. What we need to do is establish a collectively owned government independent system...

that no corporation can come in a use the excuse of "privatization" to fuck up.

[Miss Chybil]

6. Isnt' this guy a registered sex offender? Why would he keep getting these types of jobs?

[truthisfreedom]

7. He may never have even been arrested.

The article says "accused of" and "warned about", but perhaps he never faced legal action. I don't know why any sane person would have let him get away without being questioned by police.

[Skittles]

10. my company would not "warn" about sexual abuse

they'd fire the pervert and call the police

[bmbmd]

11. Technical Sargeant

Garp?

[NashVegas]

12. What a Pervert

..

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

14. While this creep needs to be dealt with, something bothers me

--unless it was a specific setup to catch this one individual, what the hell are they doing with surveillance cameras in hospital procedure rooms? That's a gross invasion of privacy unless specifically told about it and given approval by each patient in advance of entering the room.

Making regular use of a VA facility myself (Dallas Texas), I don't like the idea of my doctor's examinations being on camera for security guards to gape at.

[Ian David]

16. I think sleep labs use cameras routinely as part of the process.

That way, the technicians can monitor multiple rooms simultaneously.

How stupid do you have to be to watch a patient on a video monitor and then walk into that room-- in front of the camera-- and fondle them?