Mike at Night The Government Isn't Accountable
Brandon, my oldest son, died last November 25th due to "accidental mixed drug toxicity." This was the result of different Navy doctors prescribing different medications when combined, produced lethal effects. What has happened in the last few months has been nothing short of a nightmare. To begin with, the cause of death was listed as "unknown" for several months while different groups of service and civilian personnel conducted post mortem investigations. Brandon's family would not have known this had it not been for the persistent efforts of Senator Ben Nelson in making sure that a full accounting of the circumstances surrounding Brandon's death was made available to me. We are deeply in his debt. I finally received a 200 page plus document from the Department of the Navy that detailed the circumstances surrounding my son's death. Included in that report was a litigation/attorney work product report. In the report's preliminary statement, the JAG officer doing the report states, "This investigation is being conducted and this report is being prepared in contemplation of litigation and for the express purpose of assisting attorneys representing interests of the United States in this matter." In other words, it was CYA time. The Navy was circling the wagons in order to protect their own interests because a young man under their supervision had needlessly died. My son was less than two months away from a medical discharge due to anxiety and depression. He joined the Navy to become a Navy Seal, in fact training daily for that possibility for almost two full years before he went to basic. He was told by Navy recruiters he would have the opportunity to compete for a Seal appointment. He was never given that opportunity. That caused him great emotional stress which led to doctors appointments, which led to several different prescriptions to treat anxiety and depression, which led to his death. I've never sued anyone in my life. But the fact is, my son died because of mixed drug toxicity administered by different Navy doctors. How many times has it happened before and how many times will it happen in the future? So I contacted an attorney search on the Internet and quickly received a reply from an attorney in San Diego. Guess what? We can't sue the Navy or any of the other armed forces or the United States Government, according to her. She said we could bring suit against the drug companies but it would be a hard case to win if we couldn't sue the doctors as well. I'm not sure why Navy Jag was getting ready for litigation if they can't be sued but it seems they can't. On a broad scale, I understand this exemption. Obviously there is danger and risk involved in being a member of the armed services. It would certainly bankrupt the Government if every person injured or killed, either accidentally or in combat, could have their relatives or survivors sue the government. But this particular death wasn't accidental and it wasn't battle related. His medical care was, at the very least, incompetent, and at the worst, negligent and criminal and yet, it appears nothing can be done. And the next medical "accident" is just waiting to happen. Only those people who have lost children can know the emptiness that is always in your heart. It's bad enough when someone dies accidentally or by disease and there's nothing that could have been done. My son, however, was a healthy, in-shape, Navy corpsman, a great son, a loving, caring, protective brother, and a good friend to many and a person who had everything to live for and his whole life lay in front of him. I just endured my first birthday since his death this past week. Brandon was never much good at sending cards but he was usually the first of my three boys to call, with his cheerful voice, wishing me a happy birthday and always closing our conversation with "I Love You, Dad." He didn't call me this birthday. ____________ Mike can be e-mailed at mikeatnight@hotmail.com |