Mod Declares Injured Soilder AWOL if Treated Privately

[trap one]

In The Bristol Evening Post Today
http://www.epost.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=144913&command=displayContent&sourceNode=231190&home=yes&more_nodeId1=144922&contentPK=17222271
JAMIE WILL BE DECLARED AWOL IF HE HAS PRIVATE TREATMENT
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BY PAUL MCLENNAN [email protected]
10:40 - 03 May 2007
Parents of a young Bristol soldier who endured "appalling" conditions in an NHS hospital say they were told he would be declared absent without leave if they paid for him to be treated privately.
Jamie Cooper, 18, was the youngest serviceman to be seriously injured in Iraq.
After life-saving surgery in Iraq and at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, Jamie was taken to recover at nearby Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham - but there he contracted MRSA twice and was left sitting in his own faeces for a night.
His father Phillip, 49, said he was so appalled by the way his son was treated that he told doctors he wanted to pay for him to be treated in a private hospital.
But the Ministry of Defence told the Coopers that if they did move Jamie to a private hospital then he would be registered as Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL) - an offence which carries penalties ranging from a fine to imprisonment.
Mr Cooper, from Kingswood, spoke out after it emerged Lieutenant General Louis Lillywhite - the Army general in charge of the military's medical services - is paying BUPA for private health cover.
He has also accused the MoD of double standards after being made to believe he had no alternative but to leave his son at Selly Oak.
The MoD has since told the Evening Post Jamie would not have been punished for switching to private care and being listed as AWOL would have been a technicality.
Mr Cooper said: "Because of my son's ill-treatment I said I would put him into private care.
"They told me if I did that he would be classed as AWOL.
"If I took Jamie into a private hospital and paid for it he would be classed as absent from the Army - because he is still a member of the Army and in an Army facility.
"And if you are absent from the Army you can be charged or imprisoned - it's military law."
Mr Cooper says it is a disgrace that General Lillywhite - who has defended the treatment of troops in NHS hospitals - is a member of BUPA.
He said: "It's one rule for them and another for us. I'm not happy. Why can others get away with it?
"It's double standards. I feel they have no faith in their own system."
MoD spokesman Nick Manning admitted if Jamie had gone to a private hospital he would have been registered as AWOL.
He said: "If you went away from the hospital you were being treated in then you would be AWOL but, practically, there would be nothing done about that, because we would know where the person was."
Mr Manning said although General Lillywhite was a BUPA member, if he were to suffer an injury while on operational duty then he too would be treated at Selly Oak Hospital.
Jamie was with the Royal Green Jackets regiment in Basra when he was hit by two mortar bombs and lost the use of his left leg.
He has now been moved to Headley Court military hospital in Surrey for rehabilitation but goes back to Selly Oak for operations.
Phil said: "Jamie is getting stronger all the time.
"He's still got lots of things wrong with him but he's astonishing nearly everyone, even the doctors who said he would never walk again.
"It has been down to him and him alone, and I'm so proud."Bristol Rovers goalkeeper Steve Phillips is running in the Bristol Half Marathon to raise money for new equipment for Jamie and for the Stillborn and Neonatal Death Society. To sponsor him email [email protected].
Seems a bit bl :mad: dy harsh to me

[The Helpful Stacker]

I would have taken my chances with being AWOL rather than spend time in that sh*tehole at Selly Oak. My wife had her first pregnancy scan there and we couldn't get out of the place quick enough.

Still, at least he is at Headley now. I worked there for 3 years and they are bloody good people..

[ZH875]

Still, at least he is at Headley now. I worked there for 3 years and they are bloody good people..No, they are far better than that, dedication and pain infliction, and Max!.

[blogger]

Go to the press get a good solicitor and Fcuk the MOD right off.

They don't look after you they don't care about you. who are you any how.


If you want to take the mod on i'll start our figthing fund with £50 from my own pocket.

25 years served and getting out asap right here and now. Sod Blair, Sod the RAF, sod those big wigs saying we can win Iraq.


It's lost wake up...........

[YesTAM]

Why would anybody want to join any of the armed services in any western country these days?

We have had servicemen die while waiting for compensation for their injuries - Governments seem to try and take 30 to 40 years to settle, hoping claimants will die in the interim.

[scopey]

Hmm, how well do the Taleban look after their wounded?

[Kitbag]

scopey: Hmm, how well do the Taleban look after their wounded?
Who cares about them? Let's look after our own - properly

[It's Not Working]

Kitbag

There are 2 sides to every story. A close friend has recently (early 2007) passed through Selly Oak’s hands and he has emerged the other side with nothing but praise for the treatment he received there and the dedication of the staff, military and civilian, which looked after him. I visited him on a number of occasions and while his surroundings weren’t palatial he was amongst his own being looked after by his own and wanting for nothing. The Jamie Cooper incident was inexcusable and heads should have rolled, maybe they did, but from my understanding that incident happened nearly 2 years ago. It does not reflect Selly Oak today. During the last few weeks there have been a couple of fantastic reports on the courage of our medics in operational theatres, I think we can all be assured that our lives and welfare are safe in their hands. Digging up old dirt about Selly Oak is as useful as complaining about the standards of medical care we received in the Crimea.

The same friend, however, would concur fully with the praise heaped on Headley Court. Once he had received an attitude adjustment his time there put him back on the road to work again, albeit with bits missing.

My knowledge on the date of Jamie’s treatment is purely anecdotal, if I am wrong I’ll willingly retract but the facts remain, as I have witnessed it, that Selly Oak, today, is looking after our people.

[Zoom]

The bad press for Selly Oak seems to stem more from the lack of privacy accorded to military patients than from the actual standard of treatment. It seems to many that military personnel wounded while serving their country should not be given anything deemed to be preferential treatment! Aside from that, I'm sure that the medical care is of the highest standard but, of course, even 2 year old sh*t sticks.

Headley Court? Fantastic institution, staff and care. When I was there in 1970 most of the patients were soldiers wounded in Ulster. My mere broken arm from playing mess rugby made me feel a real fraud.

[DummyRun]

Just a thought but if he put in a leave pass before going private.....

[barnstormer1968]

My son went to school with Jamie, and knows him well, so I have heard a fair bit about his hospital treatment. While his original treatment was very shoddy, what I can say (and am pleased to be able to) is that local support and encouragement for him has been very good. It has touched my heart to see "ordinary" people showing care and concern for a member of our military. I had got to the stage where I thought the only people left who were concerned, were serving or ex members of our forces.