Legal Question in Military Law in Texas

illegal command directed Mental health Eval

While serving in a high position at a military hospital in Iraq I ran into some interpersonal conflicts with my boss. I caught her several times misrepresenting the truth and called her on it. Soon I was told I had a different mission elsewhere. I was never counseled and yet removed from my position w/o any due process. When I asked for a relief for cause OER I instead recieved a command directed Mental health referral. The psychiatirst also woked for the same women. The dx i was presented with was what my supervisor told the psychiatirst she thought i had. Psychiatirst stated (she thinks you are bipolar). I have no mental health hx and have since been cleared by two psychiatrist. I was completely humiliated as i was escorted back to the states w/ a medical attendant. What recourse do I have?


Asked on 8/21/08, 12:36 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Philip Simmons Philip Simmons

Re: illegal command directed Mental health Eval

I suspect this may be grounds for an Art 138 UCMJ complaint.

� 938. Art. 138. Complaints of wrongs

Any member of the armed forces who believes himself wronged by his commanding officer, and who, upon due application to that commanding officer, is refused redress, may complain to any superior commissioned officer, who shall forward the complaint to the officer exercising general court-martial jurisdiction over the officer against whom it is made. The officer exercising general court-martial jurisdiction shall examine into the complaint and take proper measures for redressing the wrong complained of; and he shall, as soon as possible, send to the Secretary concerned.

Read more
Answered on 8/21/08, 12:47 pm
Donald G. Rehkopf, Jr. Brenna, Brenna & Boyce, PLLC

Re: illegal command directed Mental health Eval

The first question is, other than the obvious "humiliation" you suffered, did you get a bad OER? Anything else put into your personnel file? The "damage" or "injury" to you is sort of the tail that will wag the dog, which will point out your options.

While an Art. 138 complaint is an option, in general, they are not only ineffective, but gives the commander another opportunity - officially and in writing - to attack you. Now, you risk the entire chain of command above her, siding with her, versus objectively looking at the situation.

If you have the opinions of the two psychiatrists [assuming that they are also military physicians] in writing, a better option for you MIGHT be to go to your MAJCOM IG, provided there's something you want taken out of your records. The mental health referral sounds illegal - there's a DoD Directive, 6490.1 that prohibits this except for VERY specific circumstances which you don't describe.

To give you any more specific advise, I [or any competent attorney for that matter] will need more specifics and this forum is NOT secure, so do not post anything "personal" here.

If you would like to discuss this in greater detail, email me at my office, [email protected] and I'll get back to you today.

Good luck in any event.

Don Rehkopf

Read more
Answered on 8/21/08, 1:50 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Military Law questions and answers in Texas