When You Make the Front Page: DOD Response to a Media Blitz Associated with Personnel Exposed to Chemical Warfare Agents

TRACK: Regulatory, Legal, Military, and Governmental OEM

Coleen P. Baird, MD, MPH, FACOEM, Army Public Health Center, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD
Bethany Ann Davidson, Army Public Health Center, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD
Deanna K. Harkins, MD, MPH, Army Public Health Center, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD
Joseph K. Llanos, MD, Army Public Health Center, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD
Kevin P. Michaels, MD, MPH, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Madison, AL
Raul Alexander Mirza, MD, DO, MPH, CPS/A, Army Public Health Center, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD
Ronald F. Teichman, MD, MPH, FACOEM, Army Public Health Center, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD

This session shares a response to a series of media articles describing incidents of hazardous exposure to deployed Department of Defense personnel along with allegations of limited care and follow-up. Notably, the session will delve into the Army Public Health Center’s role as the Department of Defense’s investigational medical lead into reports of Service members exposed to chemical warfare agents while serving in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn. This issue was introduced on October 14, 2014, before the national stage in a New York Times expose. The article identified the experiences of seventeen Service members exposed to aging chemical weapons from the Iran-Iraq War era and alleged the Army failed to follow policy related to the medical management and reporting of personnel exposed to nerve and vesicant agents. As a result, the Department of Defense and Department of the Army initiated an in-depth investigation to identify and evaluate Service members which included the development of a screening process and communication and outreach to thousands of potentially exposed personnel. Equally as important as medical screening was to initiate a path toward restoring the faith, trust and confidence in the DoD Services that those involved perceived had failed them. Lessons learned from this large and highly visible project will be shared.