Bush to form panel to review wounded soldiers' care
Source: Reuters
By Steve Holland WASHINGTON, March 2 (Reuters) - Scrambling to answer an outcry over shoddy health care for U.S. soldiers wounded in Iraq, the White House announced on Friday that President George W. Bush will appoint a bipartisan commission to review health care for military veterans. The announcement comes a day after the head of the U.S. Army's top hospital was removed from his job after troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan were found to be living in substandard conditions and struggling with a complex bureaucracy. Problems at an adjunct building of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington were brought to light by a Washington Post investigation published last month. It found that recuperating soldiers were living in a dilapidated building infested with mice, mold and cockroaches. The revelations were particularly embarrassing because Bush has repeatedly visited the wounded in the hospital to show his concern for those who served in battle in Iraq and Afghanistan. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Bush would announce formation of the commission in his weekly radio address on Saturday. Members of the group will be named in coming days. They will conduct a comprehensive review of the care that the U.S. government is providing the wounded. "The review will examine their treatment from the time they leave the battlefield to their return to civilian life as veterans, so that we can assure that we're meeting their physical and mental health needs," Perino said. An Army statement on Thursday said Maj. Gen. George Weightman was removed from his job in charge of Walter Reed and that top Pentagon officials had lost confidence in his ability to address needed solutions for soldier outpatient care. Perino gave excerpts from Bush's radio address, in which the president says he has been inspired by visiting the "wounded warriors" at Walter Reed and has consulted Defense Secretary Robert Gates about the problems. "He (Gates) confirmed that there are real problems at Walter Reed and he has taken action to hold people accountable including relieving the general in charge of the facility. As we work to improve conditions at Walter Reed we are also taking steps to find out whether similar problems have occurred at other military and veteran hospitals," Bush will say. The White House said the bipartisan panel's review would be separate from a similar investigation ordered by the Pentagon. The Pentagon is looking solely at Walter Reed while the White House panel will look at all veterans' hospitals. More than 10,000 U.S. troops in the Iraq war and more than 600 involved in the Afghan conflict have been wounded so seriously they were not able to return to duty within 72 hours, according to Pentagon statistics.
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