{"id":35418,"date":"2019-11-15T16:15:45","date_gmt":"2019-11-15T16:15:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/11\/15\/her-son-died-of-a-flesh-eating-infection-now-a-marine-mom-wants-justice\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T06:33:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T06:33:28","slug":"her-son-died-of-a-flesh-eating-infection-now-a-marine-mom-wants-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/11\/15\/her-son-died-of-a-flesh-eating-infection-now-a-marine-mom-wants-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"Her son died of a flesh-eating infection. Now a Marine mom wants justice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After her son died of a flesh-eating bacterial infection<\/a> in early 2018, while stationed at Twentynine Palms, California, Lynda Kiernan filed inquiries with her congressional representatives \u2015 and learned that because Pfc. William Becket Kiernan<\/a> was a Marine, the Navy doctors who failed to diagnose his condition would face no repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, she is waiting to see whether Congress passes the Richard Stayskal Military Medical Accountability Act<\/a>, which would overturn part of the Feres Doctrine, a 1954 Supreme Court decision that prevents service members or their families from filing suit for negligence against troops, including medical malpractice<\/a>. The bill is being held up in a dispute over border wall funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor me, the way we have to go about it is a monetary suit,\u201d Kiernan told Military Times on Tuesday. \u201cBut that is not my goal, at all. I don\u2019t care about monetary compensation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pfc. Becket Kiernan, at his boot camp graduation with his mother Lynda, died in February 2018 after a bacterial infection went undiagnosed. (Courtesy Lynda Kiernan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kiernan\u2019s son, who went by Becket, was 18 when he arrived at Twentynine Palms after boot camp, to get trained up as a field radio operator. Less than two months later, he was dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokesman for Marine Corps Combat Development Command did comment by deadline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSomething happened,\u201d Kiernan said. \u201cHe became very sick.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In pain and experiencing flu-like symptoms, she said, Becket went to medical some time in January, at her urging. Everything was fine, he told her, as he spent his free time laid up in the barracks, with friends bringing him food and Gatorade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI found out later he was turned away,\u201d Kiernan said, adding that members of her son\u2019s chain of command surmised that, because there was no record of him going to medical, \u201che was probably told he was being a malingerer and sent away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then he was pulled out of training, she said, with severe leg and hip pain, shaking uncontrollably, his skin turning blue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven though his flu test came back negative, they told him he had the flu,\u201d she said, sending him back to the barracks for two days of \u201csick in quarters\u201d leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also told him to give money to his roommates to bring him supplies, including medicine for his symptoms. That was Friday, Feb. 2, she said, and before dawn on Sunday, he called to tell her the pain had kept him awake the entire weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecket spent the last two days of his life alone in his barracks, not checked on,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He made his way to the on-base hospital again, she said, where he was still not diagnosed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later that day Kiernan got a call from a civilian regional medical center, telling her that they were trying to figure out whether it was a blood clot or an infection causing Becket\u2019s illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She caught the first flight out of Boston in the morning, calling for an update during a layover in Chicago. The doctor on the other line was evasive, she said, but eventually told her it was flesh-eating bacteria, and \u201canyone who loves this boy needs to be here right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few Marines in civilian clothes met her when she deplaned in Palm Springs, missing her son\u2019s death by a couple of hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The aftermath<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When medical staff at Twentynine Palms got in touch, she said, she was horrified by their nonchalance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, it was the weekend,\u201d she recalled one responding, when she asked why they didn\u2019t tell anyone in his command how sick he was, to the point of needing transfer to another hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one in his chain of command had checked in on him that weekend, either, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom the doctors right on down through his chain of command, he was abandoned and alone,\u201d she said. \u201cHe got himself back and forth to the hospital alone. Every step of the way, he suffered alone. He died alone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She opened both a congressional and a Senate inquiry into his death, but both were rejected because of Feres. So she wrote letters to top military officials, including the Navy surgeon general, Navy secretary and then-Defense Secretary James Mattis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mattis\u2019 office got back to her, letting her know her son\u2019s case had been referred to the Marine Corps inspector general and she could expect a response in August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut when the date came, I got another letter saying, \u2018Well, we conducted an investigation, and it was thorough,\u2019” she said. ” \u2018It was a good investigation, but because of [federal law], you\u2019re not allowed to know anything about it.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The law, section 1102 of U.S. Title 10, makes medical quality assurance records confidential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter, signed by Maj. Gen. David Ottignon, described Becket\u2019s death as \u201cheart wrenching for me personally” and the investigation into his medical care \u201cextensive,\u201d including undisclosed improvements that the Bureau of Navy Medicine could make in its wake.<\/p>\n\n\n\t