Army reinstates medical center boss in PTSD inquiry

WASHINGTON – The Army has reinstated the head of a West Coast medical center and changed its screening system after an investigation into whether officials reversed soldiers’ post-traumatic stress diagnoses to save money, senior leaders announced Tuesday.

The review found that Col. Dallas Homas, commander at Madigan Army Medical Center in Washington state, “did not inappropriately influence PTSD diagnoses” but that the system being used to diagnose soldiers was inappropriate for the military.

Problems with the system at Madigan, which is at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, came to light when officials reversed some of the soldiers’ initial diagnoses of PTSD during additional evaluations. The reversals raised questions about whether the changes were being made to save money.

As a result, Army leaders in May launched a sweeping review of how the service evaluates soldiers for mental health problems at all its facilities. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta later ordered a similar review across all branches of the armed services. Those larger reviews continue.

Part of the focus of the investigation at Madigan was a forensic psychiatric team that had the lead role in screening soldiers being considered for medical retirement and benefits due to PTSD, a condition that results from experiencing or seeing a traumatic event, such as a battlefield casualty or the brutal rigors of war.

“My review found that Col. Homas did not exert any undue influence over PTSD diagnosis, and that he acted appropriately, enforcing standard medical guidelines,” the Army’s vice chief of staff, Gen. Lloyd Austin, said Tuesday. Suspended as a matter of routine during the probe, Homas is getting his job back immediately.

“What we found is that the forensic methods are not the right ones for the United States Army disability evaluation system,” Austin said, noting that new policies and procedures are in place to review PTSD cases. He said that while the forensic screening may be fair, it was “simply not optimal for the unique cases that the Army diagnoses and reviews. We’ve fixed that.”

While the forensic method, which is standard practice for civilians, is legal and provides additional information, the Army determined that a different, clinical approach – which is being used in the other facilities – is better for the military.