PORTLAND, Maine – An Army health official told a panel investigating a mass shooting committed by a reservist who was experiencing a psychiatric breakdown that there were limitations on health care coverage for reservists compared to full-time soldiers.
There are no Army hospitals in New England, and reservists generally do not qualify for care at Veterans Administration hospitals, so they are likely to use private health care – but these providers are prohibited from sharing information with the command structure of the Army without the patient’s permission, said Col. Mark Ochoa, a surgeon with the U.S. Army Reserve Command who oversees the Psychological Health Program.
Gaps in communication can leave the commander, who holds ultimate responsibility for soldiers’ safety and well-being, without a complete picture of their overall health, his testimony suggested.
Ochoa was unable to speak about the details of the 40-year-old shooter, Robert Card, that killed 18 people and injured 13 others in October in Lewiston, but gave an overview of the services available to soldiers and their families in a crisis.
While there are extensive services available, the Psychological Health Program cannot require a reservist to receive treatment – only a commander can do that – and Ochoa noted that there can be miscommunications. He also acknowledged that soldiers are sometimes reluctant to seek treatment for fear that a history of mental health treatment will harm their careers.
“We hope we have demonstrated to the public and to ourselves that this is a complicated and complex process,” said Daniel Wathen, commission chairman and former state chief justice, as the session ended.
The independent commission created by the governor is investigating the facts surrounding the shooting at a bowling alley and a bar and grill. Card’s body was found two days after the shooting. An autopsy concluded that he died by suicide.
The shooter’s family and other Army reservists told police that Card was suffering from increasing paranoia in the months leading up to the shooting. He was hospitalized during a psychiatric breakdown at military training last summer in upstate New York. A reservist, Sean Hodgson, told superiors in September, a few weeks before the attacks: “I believe he is going to explode and shoot massively.”
Subsequently, the state Legislature approved new gun laws This reinforced Maine’s “yellow flag” law, which criminalized the transfer of guns to people prohibited from owning them and expanded funding for mental health crisis care.
The commission plans to release its final report this summer.
In a preliminary report, the panel criticized the way police handled the removal of Card’s weapons. He blamed police for giving Card’s family the responsibility for taking away his guns — concluding that police should have resolved the matter — and said police had the authority under the yellow flag law to take him into protective custody.
Mental health experts said most people with mental illnesses are not violentThey are much more likely to be victims of violent crimes than perpetrators, and access to firearms is a big part of the problem.
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