Lancaster County Widow Files Medical Malpractice Suit Over Iraq Solider Suicide


Posted on Oct 07, 2008

In a story that is receiving national coverage by the Associated Press, the Pennsylvania widow of an Iraq War vet is suing the United States Government Veterans Administration for her husband's death by suicide. Specifically, the wife is suing the Lebanon VA Medical Center and its staff for negligence.

Donald Woodward served in the Army in Iraq from March 2003 to August 2003 and was discharged in November of 2003. He served in the 4th Infantry Division during Operation Iraqi Freedom. On March 3, 2006, he was found on one of his favorite hiking trails in Lancaster County along the Enola Low-Grade Line. He was dead of a self-inflicted gunshot. He was a 2000 graduate of Penn Manor High School.

The Lebanon Daily News reported that Tiera Woodward of Lancaster County has filed a $2 million wrongful death and medical malpractice lawsuit at the Middle District Court on Monday, October 5.

Like many soldiers, Woodward's time in the army was traumatic. He killed three Iraqis during a battle with an Iraqi tank while his lieutenant was also killed in battle. About a year after his discharge, his family says he began to act quiet, withdrawn, and generally different. Although he enrolled in Millersville University to study biology, he dropped out after a semester. He then had difficulty holding down a number of jobs.

According to Woodward's mother, Lori Woodward also of Lancaster, her son had tried to commit suicide twice after returning from the war. In July of 2005 he tried to take his life and his family contacted the Lebanon VA Medical Center for assistance. In November of the same year, he tried to kill himself again by lighting his truck on fire but was pulled out of the burning vehicle by relatives.

After his second attempted suicide, he called the Lebanon VA Medical Center, where he was screened for mental trauma (like post traumatic stress disorder, PTSD) and depression and given a prescription for Zoloft. Despite evidence that he suffered greatly from both disorders and that he was a danger to himself, he did not meet the center's standards for major depressive disorder.

In the lawsuit, Tuera Woodward outlines that she was not informed when her husband stopped appearing for appointments at the center or of his erratic behavior and refusal to take his anti-depressants. Woodward's doctor, Douglas Ockrymiek, did not schedule a follow-up appointment when Woodward said that he had stopped taking his medication due to diarrhea and did not have Woodward sign a HIPPA release to give the family permission to know his medical situation. Woodward shot himself eight days later.

According to Lancaster Online, the suit says that the U.S. Government "acted negligently, grossly negligently, carelessly and recklessly in treating Woodward." All in all, the suit lists 27 specific allegations.

The $2 millon sum is to cover hospital costs, medical costs, pain and suffering, loss of earnings, loss of retirement, loss of Social Security, and loss of enjoyment of life.

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