Who can bring a claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act for negligence at a military medical facility?
• Anyone not on active duty who suffered from medical malpractice or inadequate care at a military health care facility in the United States may bring a claim. The malpractice may have occurred at a military hospital, base facility, clinic, or a Veterans Administration facility. • Active duty military personnel cannot bring a medical negligence claim. This is called the “Feres” doctrine, after the U.S. Supreme Court decision, FERES v. U.S, 340 U.S. 135 (1950). Under the FERES doctrine, members of the United States armed forces are barred from making a claim against the United States for personal injury or death arising “incident to service.” Military medical treatment received by a service member, while he/she is on active duty has been held by the courts to be “incident to service,” and, thus not actionable, even if that treatment was for a purely elective procedure, and even if the procedure was performed negligently. • The FERES doctrine has also been applied to bar cases by service
