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House panel votes to overturn Feres doctrine

A bill that would overturn a 59-year-old Supreme Court decision that bars service members from suing the government for peacetime medical malpractice narrowly passed a House Judiciary Committee vote Wednesday and now will be considered by the entire House.

The Carmelo Rodriguez Military Medical Accountability Act, sponsored by Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., is named for a Marine Corps sergeant who died in 2007 at age 29 from melanoma. The condition was correctly diagnosed 10 years earlier, but the doctor failed to tell Rodriguez or refer him for treatment. Years later, another military doctor said the growth was a birthmark.

The Rodriguez family could find no relief in the courts. A 1950 Supreme Court decision that became known as the Feres doctrine prohobits active-duty members from holding the government accountable for medical negligence.

In some states, service members and their families can sue the government for malpractice committed on a military family member under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Federal prisoners also can sue the government for negligence.

Hinchey hailed the committee vote.

“Members of the military and their families are now a significant step closer to attaining the same right that every other American has to hold their medical providers accountable for negligent care,” Hinchey said. “For far too long, the Rodriguez family and other military families have been helpless and unable to hold anyone accountable for the loss of their loved one as the result of gross medical malpractice.”

Even if the full House passes the Rodriguez bill, the measure faces a steep uphill climb. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., an Air Force Reserve judge advocate, said earlier this year that he opposes the measure. Graham, like every senator, has the power to place a hold on legislation.

The House Judiciary Committee voted 14-12 in favor of the bill.