Hasan's supervisor wrote damning memo in 2007
...What I find curious about this information is that after it was written Hasan was promoted and sent to Fort Hood. Usually a bad fitness report will scuttle promotions, and this one was certainly bad.On May 17, 2007, Hasan's supervisor at Walter Reed sent the memo to the Walter Reed credentials committee. It reads, "Memorandum for: Credentials Committee. Subject: CPT Nidal Hasan." More than a page long, the document warns that: "The Faculty has serious concerns about CPT Hasan's professionalism and work ethic. ... He demonstrates a pattern of poor judgment and a lack of professionalism." It is signed by the chief of psychiatric residents at Walter Reed, Maj. Scott Moran.
When shown the memo, two leading psychiatrists said it was so damning, it might have sunk Hasan's career if he had applied for a job outside the Army.
"Even if we were desperate for a psychiatrist, we would not even get him to the point where we would invite him for an interview," says Dr. Steven Sharfstein, who runs Sheppard Pratt's psychiatric medical center, based just outside Baltimore.
Sharfstein says it's a little hard to read the evaluation now and pretend that he doesn't know that Hasan is accused of shooting dozens of people. But he says if he had seen a memo like this about an applicant, Sharfstein would have avoided him like the plague.
The memo ticks off numerous problems over the course of Hasan's training, including proselytizing to his patients. It says he mistreated a homicidal patient and allowed her to escape from the emergency room, and that he blew off an important exam.
According to the memo, Hasan hardly did any work: He saw only 30 patients in 38 weeks. Sources at Walter Reed say most psychiatrists see at least 10 times that many patients. When Hasan was supposed to be on call for emergencies, he didn't even answer the phone.
Sharfstein says the memo doesn't suggest that Hasan would end up shooting people, but it warns that Hasan was "somebody who could potentially put patients in danger."
"There are all kinds of warning signs, flashing red lights, that, in terms of just this paragraph, you'd say, 'Oh, no, this is not somebody that we would take a chance on.' "
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This reminds me of one of my Dad's old jokes about the preacher who was caught embezzling from the church collection plate. When one of the church leaders was asked what they did about, he replied, "We made him stay here and preach it out."
Good catch, Merv.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone in the press ever bothered to ask Army officials an obvious question . . . what, if anything, is being done to actively encourage all those who were ever treated by, or advised by this man, to seek additional counseling?
I wrote a draft of a post back on the 7th, which for reasons of the rapidly breaking news about Hasan, became a bit "dated" before I hit the publish button.
But in it I included this language:
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There simply is no conceivable justification for what actions he took. He did not just violate his obligation to the Army, though he certainly did do that.
And he did not just violate his medical oath to, "First, do no harm," though he surely did do that as well!
No, he committed an extreme act of terrorism and mass murder. That conclusion we can draw -- exactly when he decided to do so is a different story.
One suspects, by the way, that it would be a very good idea for anyone who he had ever counseled to quickly go get yourself a second opinion!
Given his demonstrable lack of judgment, whatever he may have counseled anyone to do should be up for reconsideration!
The Army would be very wise indeed to strongly recommend new counseling for all those who he counseled over time.
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Given this story you have posted, one would have to believe that the Army will take some action along that line, perhaps after investigating all possible terror links.
Thankfully, at least in one small respect, it would seem that the number of patients he worked with was tiny compared to virtually all other psychiatrists similarly situated.