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Limit Feres’ reach

With little fanfare, the House Judiciary Committee has approved landmark legislation that would override a 59-year-old Supreme Court ruling barring active-duty members from suing the government for negligence in situations “incident to military service.”

Known as the Feres doctrine, courts have upheld the ruling for decades because of the military’s dire warnings that it could not function if troops were allowed to file suit each time a battlefield command decision led to death or injury.

But the law has never made sense in non-combat settings, and has allowed numerous incidents of medical malpractice to go unpunished.

Someone needs to be held accountable for leaving a towel inside a surgical patient, or amputating the wrong limb, or severing a critical artery accidentally during surgery — not because money can ever fully compensate for pain or suffering, but because accountability helps prevent further negligence.

The bill approved by the House Judiciary Committee upholds Feres except in cases of medical malpractice in non-combat settings.

The bill is named in honor of Carmelo Rodriguez, a Marine who died in 2007 at age 29 from melanoma. The condition was correctly diagnosed 10 years earlier by a military doctor — who promptly failed to tell Rodriguez or refer him for treatment. Years later, another military doctor said the growth was just a birthmark.

Committee approval is the first step on a long legislative road, but it’s a significant step.

Even federal convicts can sue the government for medical malpractice committed in prison hospitals.

It’s about time service members had that right, too.

DISCUSS: The Feres Doctrine