Two doctors on a Madigan Army Medical Center team have been temporarily removed from clinical duties as the Army reviews the team’s handling of post-traumatic stress disorder diagnoses of more than a dozen soldiers.
The Seattle Times reported that Army officials did not name the doctors but confirmed they had been assigned to administrative work.
U.S. Senator Patty Murray told the newspaper that one of the doctors, William Keppler, allegedly made inappropriate remarks about patients and the financial costs of disability benefits. The other doctor was not named by Murray, who chairs the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs.
Keppler leads a team responsible for assessing PTSD diagnoses for hundreds of soldiers under consideration for medical retirement at Madigan, on Joint Base Lewis-McChord. Attempts by the newspaper and The Associated Press to reach Keppler were unsuccessful.
Some soldiers have complained that doctors at Madigan unfairly stripped them of the PTSD diagnoses.
The Associated Press
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