Critics blast shortages, turnover in Army careBy Laura Ungar - The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal
Posted : Wednesday Jan 2, 2008 11:55:02 EST
Injured in a roadside blast in Iraq, Sgt. Gerald Cassidy was assigned to a new medical unit at Fort Knox, Ky., devoted to healing the wounds of war.
But instead of getting better, the brain-injured soldier from Westfield, Ind., was found dead in his barracks Sept. 21. Preliminary reports show he may have been unconscious for days and dead for hours before someone checked on him.
Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., linked his death in part to inadequate staffing at the unit. Only about half of the positions there were filled at the time. The Army is still investigating the death and its cause, and three people in Cassidy’s chain of command have lost their jobs.
“By all indications, the enemy could not kill him, but our own government did,” Bayh told the Senate Armed Services Committee recently. “Not intentionally, to be sure, but the end result apparently was the same.”
As more wounded soldiers return home from war, critics say staff shortages and turnover have affected the quality of health care at Army posts across the nation.
Rest of article at:
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/01/gns_careshortage_080102/