Lejeune psychiatrist: Complaints led to firing

[unhappycamper]

Dr. Kernan Manion poses Nov. 20 for a photograph in his office in Hampstead, N.C. Manion, a psychiatrist, says he was fired after he complained about conditions for his patients at Camp Lejeune.


Lejeune psychiatrist: Complaints led to firing
By Kevin Maurer - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Nov 20, 2009 18:56:32 EST

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — Marines treated at Camp Lejeune for post-traumatic stress had to undergo therapy for months in temporary trailers where they could hear bomb blasts, machine-gun fire and war cries through the thin walls, according to service members and their former psychiatrist.

The eight trailers were used for nearly two years, until a permanent clinic was completed in September in another location on the base, said a Camp Lejeune medical spokesman, Navy Lt. j.g. Mark Jean-Pierre.

The noise from training exercises “shook me up real bad. I couldn’t take it. I almost ran out of there a couple of times,” said a Marine, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to the media. “My mind couldn’t focus on the treatment. I couldn’t tell the difference between the combat zone and the non-combat zone.”

The allegations became public after the dismissal of Dr. Kernan Manion, a civilian psychiatrist who says he was fired for writing memos to his military superiors complaining of shoddy care of Marines returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with PTSD, a condition that can make patients jumpy, fearful of loud noises and prone to flashbacks.

“These guys are saying, ‘I’m fried and I can’t get out,’ ” Manion said in an interview. Referring to the Nov. 5 Fort Hood shooting rampage in which an Army psychiatrist who counseled PTSD victims allegedly killed 13 people earlier this month, he said: “Is there potential for another blowup? Yes, indeed.”


Rest of article at: http://marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/11/ap_marines_lejeune_manion_112009/