Medical errorsThe Challenge
Although the Feres Doctrine had already been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court previously, and since then, the court has refused to accept two petitions that would have led to its reconsideration, Feres has been narrowly upheld, drawing scathing criticism from the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who pointed out that the 1950 case was wrongly decided and deserves the “widespread, almost universal criticism it has received.”
Still, many have commented that, if there was ever a chance at defeating the Feres doctrine, this is the case to do it, given the clear negligence involved and the fact that the victim died in connection with childbirth, not military service. It is also important to note that there is no law putting forth these limitations; i.e. this interpretation is not included in the Federal Tort Claims Act, but was simply put in place by the one U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1950; meaning that Congress and the current U.S. Supreme Court have the ability to undo it, so to speak.
