{"id":55210,"date":"2019-12-26T19:22:17","date_gmt":"2019-12-26T19:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/12\/26\/explainer-can-you-now-sue-the-military-for-medical-malpractice\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:34:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:34:36","slug":"explainer-can-you-now-sue-the-military-for-medical-malpractice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/commentary\/2019\/12\/26\/explainer-can-you-now-sue-the-military-for-medical-malpractice\/","title":{"rendered":"Explainer:  Can you now sue the military for medical malpractice?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Signed into law <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefings-statements\/remarks-president-trump-signing-ceremony-s-1790-national-defense-authorization-act-fiscal-year-2020\/\" target=\"_blank\">by President Donald J. Trump on Dec. 20<\/a>, the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act permits active duty military personnel and their next of kin to file claims for death or personal injury caused by military medical providers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Historically, military members have been blocked from filing such claims under the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/wex\/feres_doctrine\" target=_blank><i>Feres<\/i> doctrine<\/a>, named for the plaintiff in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2019\/12\/23\/new-for-2020-heres-why-troops-cant-sue-the-military-for-medical-malpractice-and-how-thats-changing\/\" target=_blank><i>Feres v. United Stat<\/i>es<\/a>, the 1950 Supreme Court decision that ruled active duty military personnel could not hold the federal government liable for personal injuries that they suffered incident to service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The new legislation lets service members hold the federal government liable for medical malpractice, but the law comes with significant limitations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">1. Service members will still not be able to file medical malpractice claims for personal injuries caused by medical malpractice in a combat zone;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">2. Service members will not be permitted to sue in federal court. Their claims must be adjudicated administratively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A substantiated claim under $100,000 will be paid directly to the service member or a surviving beneficiary by the Department of Defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Treasury Department will review and pay claims that the Secretary of Defense values at more than $100,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Victims have two years from the date of injury to file a claim. However, victims seeking redress in 2020 are able to file claims for injuries that occurred in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/05\/20\/supreme-court-rejects-bid-to-overturn-prohibition-on-military-malpractice-cases\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_19022534515391.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Supreme Court rejects bid to overturn prohibition on military malpractice cases<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Justice Clarence Thomas blasted the decision as a mistake by the courts that deprives service members of justice.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although the new legislation creates path to redress for military medical malpractice victims, it leaves some roadblocks in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those with injuries caused by military medical malpractice prior to 2017, no matter how egregious, do not have a way to recover damages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even for those who can file a claim, without the possibility of taking a case to federal court, the service member will have little recourse if he disagrees with the Defense Department\u2019s assessment of his case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Also, the Department of Defense has little institutional experience handling medical malpractice claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Notwithstanding the limitations of the legislation, this is an important and significant change in the law. It opens an avenue to justice for service members who have received negligent medical care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Based in Washington, D.C., Navy veteran <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarydefense.com\/Attorney\/\"><i>David P. Sheldon<\/i><\/a><i> is one of the nation\u2019s best attorneys specializing in military justice. Although he represents service members from all the armed forces, he\u2019s been in the news lately for his victories against the Navy representing<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-navy\/2018\/09\/06\/the-navys-top-lawyer-unlawfully-scuttled-a-seals-case-court-rules\/\"><i> Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator Keith E. Barry<\/i><\/a><i> and <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-navy\/2019\/04\/11\/navy-expected-to-drop-criminal-charges-against-fitzgerald-skipper\/\"><i>Lt. Natalie Combs<\/i><\/a><i>. <\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Before joining Sheldon\u2019s civil litigation division, Corey Bean served as an attorney in the Navy\u2019s Judge Advocate General\u2019s Corps for 10 years, defending service members in court-martial proceedings and before boards of inquiry. Today he also represents clients asserting claims under the <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/cfr\/text\/32\/536.74\" target=_blank><i>Military Claims Act<\/i><\/a><i> and <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/fas.org\/sgp\/crs\/misc\/R45732.pdf\" target=_blank><i>Federal Tort Claims Act<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Their words do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Navy Times or its staffers.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Historically, service members have been blocked from filing negligence claims under the Feres doctrine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":44839,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":97,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[97,17],"tags":[],"coauthors":[8241],"class_list":["post-55210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-opinion"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"B7VLGZKD2FCKNHVPREDARR6TNY","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-navy\/2019\/12\/26\/explainer-can-you-now-sue-the-military-for-medical-malpractice\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Explainer: Can you now sue the military for medical malpractice? - Military Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Historically, service members have been blocked from filing negligence claims under the Feres doctrine.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Explainer: Can you now sue the military for medical malpractice?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Historically, service members have been blocked from filing negligence claims under the Feres doctrine.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/commentary\/2019\/12\/26\/explainer-can-you-now-sue-the-military-for-medical-malpractice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Military Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-12-26T19:22:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T19:34:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David P. 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