Fired therapist: Stressed Marines get shoddy care

[kpete]

Source: Associated Press

Fired therapist: Stressed Marines get shoddy care

By KEVIN MAURER
Associated Press Writer


CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (AP) -- Marines treated at Camp Lejeune for post-traumatic stress had to undergo therapy for months in temporary trailers where they could hear bomb blasts, machine-gun fire and war cries through the thin walls, according to servicemen and their former psychiatrist.

The eight trailers were used for nearly two years, until a permanent clinic was completed in September in another location on the base, said a Camp Lejeune medical spokesman, Navy Lt. j.g. Mark Jean-Pierre.

The noise from training exercises "shook me up real bad. I couldn't take it. I almost ran out of there a couple of times," said a Marine patient who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to the media. "My mind couldn't focus on the treatment. I couldn't tell the difference between the combat zone and the non-combat zone."

The allegations became public after the dismissal of Dr. Kernan Manion, a civilian psychiatrist who says he was fired for writing memos to his military superiors complaining of shoddy care of Marines returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with PTSD, a condition that can make patients jumpy, fearful of loud noises and prone to flashbacks.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MARINES_MENTAL_HEALTH?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

[EFerrari]

1. .

[RedSock]

2. winner for "least surprising headline of the month"? (eom)

[irislake]

3. Interesting that the military managed to fire a psychiatrist

who wasn't signaling that he might be a terrorist. Seems it's not that difficult to get rid of psychiatrists they don't want.

Hmmmm.

Not that I am a conspiracy freak or anything.