Gates orders review of Army hospital

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced plans Friday to form an independent review group to examine Walter Reed Army Medical Center and other military hospitals.

The move comes after news reports indicated that seriously injured soldiers had been caught in a bureaucratic morass and given substandard outpatient housing at Walter Reed. The review ordered by Gates will focus on rehabilitative care and administrative procedures at Walter Reed and the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.

“The men and women recovering at Walter Reed and at other military hospitals have put their lives on the line and paid a considerable price for defending our country,” Gates said. “They battled our foreign enemies. They should not have to battle an American bureaucracy.”

Defense officials have said that there are no allegations of systemic problems at Bethesda or other military hospitals, but Gates said the commission would be able to examine all military hospitals. Articles in the Washington Post this week detailed shortcomings of the military health system, especially its outpatient facilities.

Gates said he was grateful to the reporters who brought the problems to light, and said he was disappointed that the Defense Department had not found the problems earlier. He promised that he would hold accountable the people who allowed the problems in outpatient care at Walter Reed to occur.

The Defense secretary’s tone was in sharp contrast to comments Thursday by Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley, the Army surgeon general, who challenged the Post report as a “one-sided representation.” Kiley, who used to command Walter Reed and oversees the hospital as head of the Army Medical Command, said there was no “failure of leadership.”

Gates did not criticize Kiley, but he said he was upset by the original articles and had not learned anything from Army officials that caused him to believe the articles were wrong.

The review panel is to report its results within 45 days. It will be lead by Togo West Jr. -- who served as Army secretary and secretary of Veterans Affairs in the Clinton administration -- and John O. Marsh Jr., who was Army secretary under President Reagan.

The Defense Department already has begun making repairs at Walter Reed and taking other steps to address the problems, officials said.

Gates said some of those directly involved with problems identified at Walter Reed had been “relieved” of their assignments. Army officials said later that no officers had been removed from command positions, but that there had been administrative reassignments of some midlevel officials at the hospital.

The review panel will deliver its report to Congress, Gates said.

Lawmakers have already begun drafting their own recommendations for an overhaul.

A new bill drafted by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), a presidential candidate, and Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), a freshman member of the Armed Services Committee, seeks to simplify the paperwork for injured soldiers, force the Army to add more caseworkers, and increase the oversight of Walter Reed. A Democratic congressional staffer said the senators planned to introduce the bill next week.

julian.barnes@latimes.com