Army reviewing Madigan soldiers’ diagnosis changes

SEATTLE — The Army has begun a top-level review of a Madigan Army Medical Center team’s decision to reverse the post-traumatic stress disorder diagnoses of more than a dozen soldiers.

The Seattle Times reported that the office of the Army Surgeon General has arranged for 14 soldiers to fly to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland to be examined by another team of Army doctors.

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray confirmed details of the review to the newspaper. She said she’ll be monitoring the Walter Reed decisions closely.

The soldiers have been under consideration for medical retirement, which offers considerably more financial benefits than alternative forms of discharge.

Some have complained that doctors at Madigan, on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, unfairly stripped them of the PTSD diagnoses, which would help qualify them for a medical retirement.

Murray spokesman Matt McAlvanah said Madigan is the only Army hospital to use a forensic-psychiatry team in such a manner to screen soldiers.