Review urges Walter Reed closure

[babylonsister]

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usreed155172474apr15,0,3156203.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-print

Review urges Walter Reed closure
THE WASHINGTON POST

April 15, 2007
WASHINGTON - A top-level review panel appointed by the Pentagon has concluded that Walter Reed Army Medical Center should be closed as soon as possible, following revelations of poor care that the panel blamed on a "perfect storm" of failed leadership, flawed policies and overwhelming casualties.

In a preliminary report released last week, the panel recommended accelerating the closure of the hospital in northwest Washington. Under decisions made two years ago, the hospital's facilities already were due to move to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., by 2011.

A faster move could mean speeding up or waiving an environmental review and releasing money to break ground on a $2-billion expansion plan at Bethesda, according to the draft report from the Independent Review Group. Construction of a larger Army hospital at Fort Belvoir in northern Virginia also should be expedited, the report said.

The Navy is preparing a draft environmental study for the Bethesda plan, which would include a large addition on the north side of the hospital building and tower. "It needs to be built, and it needs to be built as quickly as possible," said review panel member John Schwarz, a physician and former Republican congressman from Michigan. "The environmental impact study should be waived."

Such a move could inflame neighbors of the sprawling campus, who are counting on an environmental review to assess the effects of added traffic. And it would run counter to efforts in Congress to stave off Walter Reed's closure.

Even as they urged a speedy shutdown, members of the Pentagon group called for the immediate investment of hundreds of millions of dollars at Walter Reed for short-term infrastructure improvements and to address shortages of nurses and other medical personnel.

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[Captain Hilts]

1. No, NOT a good idea. nt

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

2. WRAMC = prime real estate

just sitting there waiting to be developed.

[babylonsister]

3. I fear that's what it truly is all about. nt

[Solly Mack]

4. Prime DC real estate

[RB TexLa]

5. It should have been closed a while ago, but Reps and Senators want it

near them for their use. Would hate for them to have to go all the way to an Army facility in Baltimore or heaven forbid go to a private doctor and wait in a room with mere mortals.