Soldier's mom recalls 'filthy' hospital

Walter Reed 'rundown,' outdated, she says

Saturday, March 10, 2007

By TOM LOEWY

The Register-Mail

GALESBURG - Caleb Lufkin's mother wasn't surprised when the deplorable conditions inside the Walter Reed Hospital Complex were exposed by a pair of reporters from the Washington Post.

Memories of sticky floors, clogged sinks and trash cans overflowing with wound dressings are still fresh in her mind.

"Walter Reed was very rundown," Marcy Gorsline said. "Everything was very old - like, circa 1950s."

Pfc. Caleb Lufkin, a member of Company B of the 5th Engineer Battalion, 1st Engineer Brigade out of Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., was injured in south-central Baghdad by a roadside bomb on May 4, 2006.

The 24-year-old suffered the most serious injuries to his left leg. Lufkin sustained shrapnel wounds and burns to his other extremities. He was treated in Iraq and Germany before being transferred to Walter Reed Hospital on May 7, 2006.

Lufkin died on May 25, 2006, during surgery on his left leg.

Gorsline arrived May 9 and stayed at the Walter Reed Complex for three weeks. She works for OSF St. Mary Medical Center and has been a registered nurse since 1978.

"Caleb's room was filthy," Gorsline said. "It was small and almost never cleaned. There were wound dressings overflowing from the trash can in Caleb's room.

"I remember at one point, our feet were sticking to the floor. There were all kind of secretions on the floor. We asked for someone to clean it and a nurse had to come in and mop the floor."

Gorsline said a number of Caleb's surgeries were attempts to stem infection, yet the conditions in the hospital rooms lent themselves to problems.

"The sink was clogged and there was water standing in the sink," Gorsline said. "Finally, someone came in to look after it and they plunged it. Well, the stuff clogging the sink - that black goop - just went all over. They plunged it and left.

"Here they were trying to fight infection in Caleb's leg and the conditions were just terrible."

Marcy's husband, Dennis Gorsline, was with his wife.

"Caleb's room was very small, and it seemed to be out-dated," Dennis Gorsline said. "It just wasn't very clean, I remember that. I wasn't surprised to hear about the recent allegations."

A series of stories from Washington Post reporters Dana Priest and Anne Hull that started Feb. 18 uncovered widespread neglect at Walter Reed Hospital.

The Gorslines did not see inside the barracks where soldiers stayed for long-term recovery - Caleb never left the hospital. But Marcy did see some of the conditions in other parts of the hospital.

"Down in the cafeteria, I saw a mother feeding her son because there weren't many people there to help," she said. "I saw a woman with no arms who couldn't feed her kids."

Marcy Gorsline said the scope of Walter Reed's problems did not hit her immediately.

"When I first got there, I was just overwhelmed," Marcy said. "But by the second day there, I was starting to see a larger problem.

"The floor was sticky, there were wound bandages in the trash and on the floor. Poor Caleb - his air bed deflated three times. It would happen, the alarm would go off and he would just say 'Here we go again.' "

Gorsline said her anger has not subsided.

"On a personal note, those men and women have gone over there for quote-unquote us - and we can't give them the best care possible?" she said. "Men and women are going over there whole and they come back in pieces - mentally and physically.

"These kids - I call them all kids - deserve far, far better than that. And the kids are still coming home, day after day and hour after hour."