Congressman Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) yesterday joined his colleagues, Jackie Speier (D-CA), Richard Hudson (R-NC), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Charlie Crist (D-FL), and Greg Steube (R-FL), to introduce the Sergeant First Class Richard Stayskal Military Medical Accountability Act of 2019, which would allow military servicemembers to sue the Department of Defense for instances of medical malpractice unrelated to their military duties. Currently, the Feres Doctrine, which originated in a 1950 Supreme Court case, prevents servicemembers from having their day in court when malpractice by military health care providers unconnected to combat results in severe injury or even death.

“SFC Richard Stayskal has dedicated the past 17 years of his life to protecting the citizens of the United States and the Military Health System failed him,” Mullin said. “We should do better and we must do better. This legislation provides checks and balances to the Military Health System to ensure physicians are providing the highest levels of care to our men in women in uniform and gives patients recourse against negligent care. I look forward to working with my colleagues to make sensible reforms to the Feres Doctrine so that we can keep our commitment to those who have risked their lives to defend our nation.”

For nearly 70 years, servicemembers have not been able to sue military medical providers after being misdiagnosed, mistreated, or subjected to botched surgeries, even though this malpractice occurred in health care settings in which all other Americans have that right. By creating an exemption to the Federal Tort Claims Act to allow servicemembers to sue the military for medical malpractice, the Stayskal Act would give servicemembers the same right as the fellow citizens they serve and protect. SFC Stayskal developed terminal lung cancer after being misdiagnosed numerous times in a military health facility.