WASHINGTON — On frequent trips to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Rep. C.W. "Bill" Young said he and his wife found wounded soldiers who didn't have adequate clothes, even one doing his rehabilitation in the bloody boots he had on when he was injured.
One soldier, ashamed that his mattress was soaked with urine, tried to turn Young's wife away, the Florida Republican recalled Wednesday. Another with a serious brain injury fell out of bed and hit his head three times before someone was assigned to ensure it didn't happen again.
On the third day of hearings on Walter Reed, Young told Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, the Army's top medical officer, and other brass that he repeatedly took his concerns to officials. Young didn't raise them in public, he said, because he didn't want to undermine patients' confidence or the military. But now he and other lawmakers want answers.
And there's no one they hold more accountable than Kiley, who headed the U.S. military's premier hospital from 2002 to 2004. Last week, Kiley was appointed interim commander of Walter Reed but was removed a day later. He remains the Army's surgeon general.
"While we have dedicated people, they're working in a system that is failing our soldiers," Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said at the first of two hearings at which Kiley testified Wednesday. Calling Walter Reed "just the tip of the iceberg," Murray detailed fresh reports of poor treatment at a military hospital in Washington state. "Gen. Kiley, you're in charge of this system. I hold you accountable," she said. "I'm here today because I want answers."
Concerns about Walter Reed came to light after the Washington Post reported gaps in treatment and poor conditions in some facilities on the sprawling hospital campus, in particular an outpatient residential facility known as Building 18.
Kiley has told lawmakers he was unaware of specific problems in Building 18. He said in response to questions Wednesday that he had become aware of other problems at the hospital during and after his tenure there, and had acted to remedy them.
But, he acknowledged, he had not done enough. "I did fail," Kiley said. "I should have been more engaged."
In testimony this week, Kiley has sought to reassure lawmakers that physical problems such as mold growth and broken fixtures were being addressed. The last patient in Building 18 was scheduled to move out Wednesday night, he added.
