[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 144 (Tuesday, September 10, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H7562-H7563]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     HONORING THE SERVICE OF SERGEANT FIRST CLASS RICHARD STAYSKAL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Speier) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Sergeant First Class 
Richard Stayskal and to tell Rich how much I admire his bravery and his 
service to our country.
  Rich has been in D.C. since yesterday, talking to Members of the 
Senate about the critical need to address the injustice of the Feres 
doctrine. Today, he has joined us in the gallery.
  This will likely be his last trip to Washington, D.C. That is because 
this father, this husband, this marine and Army Green Beret has end-
stage lung cancer, a cancer that Army medical staff failed to alert him 
to despite finding the tumor on scans. The cancer grew at a deadly 
pace, untreated and undiagnosed, until he went to a private practice 
doctor in 2017. By then, it was stage IV, and his prognosis was 
terminal.

                              {time}  1015

  Despite this devastating development, Rich continued his service 
overseas and at home in good times and bad until not long ago and just 
shy of his 20-year milestone for full retirement. He also fought this 
tragedy as a true soldier and tackled the very thing that has left him 
and his family most vulnerable: The Feres doctrine.
  The Feres doctrine is an outdated judicial ruling that bars active 
duty servicemembers from suing the government for medical malpractice. 
These are not in combat situations. These are cases that happen here at 
home at medical facilities on Army bases and other services. There has 
never been a bill, there has never been a hearing, a vote in Congress, 
but that is the Feres doctrine, and that has been what has been the law 
of the land for 70 years.
  Servicemembers' spouses and families, civilian Federal employees, and 
even convicted prisoners have the right to sue for negligence, but not 
our servicemembers. Only Rich and our brave military servicemembers are 
denied this right by the Feres doctrine. That means that Rich, his 
family, and other servicemembers and their families have been denied 
justice in their greatest hour of need. It also means there are no 
consequences for botched procedures and few incentives for the 
military's medical providers to improve care.
  In this fight to achieve justice for his family and spare others what 
they have endured, Rich has met with Democrats and Republicans in the 
House and Senate. He testified before the Armed Services Military 
Personnel Subcommittee, which I chair. The media has taken notice. The 
House has taken notice. The NDAA has addressed it in the House. The 
question is: Will the Senate?
  At a time when Rich should be able to spend his remaining days with 
those he loves, he has answered the call to fight. Rich, as I promised 
you when you testified before the committee, we will never forget your 
commitment, your honor, and sacrifice, and I will keep fighting to fix 
Feres as long as it takes.
  Congress is responsible for allowing Feres to stand for 70 years, but 
we can correct this failure, and we can do it now. The House-passed 
NDAA contains the Sergeant First Class Richard Stayskal Act of 2019. It 
would create an exemption that would finally give servicemembers and 
their families the right to sue the government for medical malpractice 
in noncombat settings.
  The ball is now in the Senate's court where it seems Senator 
McConnell would rather help corporations than

[[Page H7563]]

our brave servicemembers. I hope he will make an exception for doing 
the right thing and for Rich, because Rich deserves to know that after 
all his years of coming through for this country when it really counted 
this country will come through for him. Rich deserves to know that his 
efforts, his life, his sacrifice matter because he made life better for 
those who will come after him. And Rich deserves to know that when his 
time comes his wife Megan and their two young daughters will not be 
left alone. They, like so many military families, have sacrificed so 
much so that we may sleep at night. They have forfeited unknown years 
of happiness with a father and husband that they would move heaven and 
earth to keep with them.
  In honor of Rich and his family and all those who serve, I implore 
the Senate to join the House and pass the Sergeant First Class Richard 
Stayskal Act of 2019.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair would remind Members to avoid 
referencing occupants of the gallery.

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