Veterans groups, lawmakers call on Supreme Court to hear Air Force vet’s suit on military medical malpractice

Nearly two dozen veterans advocacy groups and six lawmakers are requesting the Supreme Court hear the case of a retired Air National Guardsman who wants to sue the military after a routine back surgery left him paralyzed from the chest down.

“The Feres Doctrine cannot be allowed to continue enabling and protecting medical malpractice in the military,” Army veteran Lauren Palladini said, referring to a ruling by the Supreme Court that bars service members from suing the military for anything related to their time in service.

Palladini, who is also president of a military medical malpractice advocacy group called Coalition of Heroes, helped organize the filing of one of two briefs submitted to the Supreme Court last month in support of retired Tech. Sgt. Ryan Carter. The briefs are referred to by the court as an amicus curiae brief, or friend-of-the-court brief, and can help sway the justices to accept a case. They are typically filed by people and organizations not directly involved in the case but who have a strong interest in it.