Supreme Court Denies Paraplegic Veteran Medical Malpractice Claim

Veteran Ryan Carter Denied

Maryland Air National Guard Veteran Ryan Carter underwent elective spinal surgery in 2018 – he was a healthy 43-year-old and not on active duty at the time. Carter couldn’t move his extremities when he woke from surgery; he had an MRI and was rushed back to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for a second surgery to decompress his spinal canal. Carter is now a paraplegic.

Carter’s attorney filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to hear his case but said they were “stonewalled from the get-go” because his military status was deemed “active duty” while in hospital. Carter, his wife and his attorney also asked the Supreme Court have the Feres doctrine either clarified, limited or overruled and that the 1950 Feres decision by the Court contradicts the text and purpose of the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), wrongly denying military members orthodox legal remedies that Congress clearly opted to supply.

But that petition was just denied. Justice Clarence Thomas issued the only dissent opinion, saying he hoped one day the Supreme Court would overturn Feres, and that it has been almost universally condemned by judges and legal scholars. “Feres is indefensible as a matter of law, and senseless as a matter of policy,” Thomas wrote. “Had Carter been a veteran rather than an inactive reservist, he could have filed a lawsuit for the same injuries arising from the same treatment by the same military staff at the same hospital.”

Carter’s attorney told StarsandStripes.com that his case received support briefs filed by lawmakers and more than a dozen veterans organization. He will now turn his attention to an administrative claim that he filed on Carter’s behalf with the Defense Department.

Veteran Richard Stayskal Denied

An Army hospital failed to alert Green Beret Richard Stayskal to a large tumor they found on his lung in 2017. He didn’t know until months later from a doctor at a civilian hospital that he had stage 3 cancer. Military.com reported that Stayskal–after his diagnosis– became an advocate for service members to file medical malpractice claims against the government–a process historically denied due to the Feres Doctrine (below).

Stayskal’s lung cancer changed military malpractice law and Congress created a new malpractice system called “The Sgt. First Class Richard Stayskal Military Medical Accountability Act”, which supposedly allows troops to file claims with the Defense Department alleging malpractice by military health-care providers, and allows veterans to seek damages for economic losses, pain and suffering. But it still didn’t help Stayskal.

Stayskal and his wife filed claims separately in 2021 for $20 million for pain and suffering. In 2023 his million medical malpractice claim was denied. His subsequent appeal also was denied.

“The denial of my claim by the Department of Defense, in my opinion, is a blatant act of betrayal. Not only to myself, but every service member out there,” Stayskal told StarsandStripes.com. “I stand here today on behalf of an entire generation and on behalf of future generations to ensure what happened to me will never happen again and give every breath I have for them.” Stayskal’s attorney said that “People have the right to sue if they are victims of malpractice, except for service members. It’s time to stop treating them like second-class citizens. It’s got to stop.” She went on. The Army told Stayskal it had “breached standard of care” but did not commit malpractice. The Army’s rejection letter said there was “no evidence that [Master Sgt.] Stayskal’s prognosis or chance of survival was adversely affected by the delay in the diagnosis of lung cancer.”

Stayskal, now with Stage 4 cancer, currently has no recourse to appeal his ruling. There is only one longshot: Congressman Darrell Issa and other House colleagues introduced a bill in 2023 called “The HERO Act” that would allow service members to take their medical malpractice claims to federal court. The bill has 27 sponsors but has not been considered by the House Judiciary Committee. According to Issa, “The HERO Act will grant service members who are victims of medical malpractice in a DOD medical treatment facility the right and opportunity to take their claim to District Court—the same legal process as military spouses, DOD civilians, and anyone else. It will finally reform the current failing system and replace it with one that gives our military the fair shot at justice they deserve.”

The Feres Doctrine

In a nutshell, the Feres Doctrine shields military doctors and the government from cases of alleged medical malpractice. The legal site Justia explains the Feres Doctrine: “The United States is not liable under the Federal Tort Claims Act for injuries to members of the armed forces sustained while on active duty and not on furlough and resulting from the negligence of others in the armed forces.”
Troops still aren’t allowed to file lawsuits over medical malpractice under the Feres Doctrine, set by a 1950 Supreme Court decision that protected the military and its officials from liability for combat-related injuries, although family members may file claims and lawsuits in civil court under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Aside from medical claims, the Feres doctrine has also limited the ability of people to bring military rape cases to civil courts.

In May 2024, Military.com reported that the Pentagon was “tweaking its formula for calculating payments to U.S. service members for medical malpractice claims, a move that could put more money in the pockets of affected troops and veterans. In October 2023, the amount of money for noneconomic damages rose from $600,000 to $750,000. Until 2021, service members were not allowed to file claims for medical malpractice or sue the Defense Department over injuries or illnesses that occur while on active duty. Stayskal and his wife both filed $20 million claims for pain and suffering, well over the current $750,000 cap for such claims. When Stayskal’s claim was denied, he told The Washington Post that Army Secretary Christine Wormuth offered him $600,000 using her discretionary funding authority, which was the maximum amount allowed for pain and suffering damages in the military’s medical malpractice system. He refused the money.