The Stars and Stripes Tuesday, March 24, 1992

Whistle-blowers still fielding flak

Reprisals continue despite protection law

By Pete Yost
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON--The Army tries to fire a civilian scientist after
he
criticizes the Pentagon's "Star Wars" program.
A senior technician


Are you kidding?

I am a subspecialty surgeon, practice in a remote area. I love what I
do, I believe that I do it quite well. Great patients, nice varied
case load.

HOWEVER, I wouldn't do it again for all the tea in Tetley. No way. I
unknowingly made my family - my KIDS - pay far too high a price in my
absence and chronic fatigue during too many years of training.
Nothing is worth taking out this level of debt before you even have a
real job (about 165k; the debt, that is). The debt has forced me to
be more concerned about money than I ever thought I would be.

I do not advise anyone to go into medicine currently. The liability
is too high, the expense is rapidly outpacing the remuneration,
lawyers and Medicare view us as a potential revenue stream and
nothing more.


DALLAS (AP) -- Some military whistle-blowers have been forced
to
undergo psychiatric evaluations and been sent to mental wards
as
intimidation or reprisal, a newspaper said Sunday, quoting
current
and former service members. The Pentagon denied the
allegations.
The Dallas Morning News investigated 27 psychiatric cases
involving
the military and found most of the service members involved
had
spotless records until they challenged the system. It didn't
say how
the cases were chosen.
The newspaper examined nine cases in detail in its three-
month
project.
In one, Capt. Denise Kirkland, an Air Force surgeon who
complained about shoddy practices at the Little Rock AFB
hospital,
was told by her supervisor that she had suicidal tendencies
and was
ordered to have a psychiatric evaluation in San Antonio.
Another involved Army Staff Sgt. William T. Murphy, who
complained in 1988 about how a friend had been treated by a
superior
at the Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.
A series or reprimands followed, along with a 30-minute
psychiatric examination that reached a "diagnostic
impression" Murphy
had passive-aggressive traits. He asked for his record to be
cleared.
The newspaper interviewed Kirkland and Murphy, and examined
court documents in Murphy"s case.
The House Armed Services Committee has held hearings on
psychiatric abuses since 1987 and continues to prod the
Pentagon for
reforms.
"It is intolerable that military whistle-blowers should be
intimidated by such an insidious tactic and that those
responsible
should go unpunished," said Rep. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.
Chester Paul Beach Jr., the Defense Department"s acting
general
counsel, said the Pentagon is strengthening its policies at
Congress"
urging to ensure that psychiatric evaluations are not used
against
the whistle-blowers."