BMJ  2007;334:565 (17 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.39153.611111.59

Observations

Atlantic crossing

The trouble with US military medicine

Uwe E Reinhardt, James Madison professor of political economy, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States

reinhard@princeton.edu

Squalour at the Walter Reed Army Hospital shows how out of touch America's elites really are

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

For over a week now, America has been forced to look into the mirror to discover that it has egg on its presumably noble face. According to several recent reports in the Washington Post, seriously wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Hospital are housed in rodent infested facilities with holes in the ceilings and paint peeling off the walls—right in the nation's capital, less than six miles from the White House. Meanwhile, a flood of reports from wounded soldiers and veterans elsewhere suggests that America, in too many instances, fails its wounded warriors and veterans in general.

Americans never tire of professing in words their gratitude to the brave men and women who fight the nation's wars. Automobiles are adorned with $3 magnetic ribbons—made in China—exhorting the citizenry to "Support our Troops." Immense praise is lavished on our warriors in virtually every speech by politicians or corporate executives of . . . [Full text of this article]


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Rapid Responses:

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Military medicine better in US than in Britain
tony hall
bmj.com, 20 Mar 2007 [Full text]
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