TACOMA, WA — Sexual-assault charges have been filed by the Army against Maj. Michael Stockin, MD, an anesthesiologist stationed at the pain clinic at Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s Madigan Army Medical Center. The court-martial charges against Stockin, who was suspended from seeing patients in February 2022, include abusive sexual contact and indecent viewing during examinations of patients.
The charges came less than a week after The Washington Post broke the story, reporting that the Army had been engaged in an active criminal investigation of Stockin for more than a year.
Stockin has served as an anesthesiologist in the Army since May 2013. He was stationed at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu from June 2013 through July 2014; Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, MD, from July 2014 to July 2019; and at Madigan Army Medical since July 2019. He also was deployed to Iraq from October 2020 to February 2021.
As of mid-September, the charging document had not been released by the Army, nor had the nature and times and dates of the specific accusations been made public.
Robert Capovilla, JD, a former Army officer with the judge advocate general’s corps who now practices in Woodstock, GA, is representing Stockin. He told U.S. Medicine, “Charges alone are not evidence, and the defense has been given very little opportunity to review the Army Criminal Investigation Division’s investigation. Moreover, we expect the Army to ensure that Major Stockin’s constitutional right to a fair defense is honored at all stages of these proceedings. We look forward to being given full access to the evidence and we will certainly conduct our own thorough investigation into these allegations.”
He added, “It’s very disappointing that information was leaked to the media before Major Stockin was formally charged or the defense was made aware of the allegations. The Army cannot forget that Major Stockin is cloaked in the presumption of innocence and our expectation is that the Army will do everything in its power to ensure a fair process for Major Stockin and not just the alleged victims.”
Several of those alleged victims have obtained counsel themselves, with at least two filing federal tort claims against the Army and DoD. The Federal Torts Claims Act (FTCA) allows individuals to bring legal claims against federal agencies for wrongful acts committed by their employees.
On Sept. 14, attorneys at Sanford Heisler Sharp in Takoma, WA, filed administrative complaints—the first step in a tort claim—on behalf of two former patients of Stockin’s. According to the law firm, both complainants make near-identical allegations.
The law firm issued a press release stating that the Federal Torts Claims Act (“FTCA”) filing accuses Stokin of fondling the patients’ genitals with his bare hands and with no chaperone present.
“Although Dr. Stockin committed the abuse under the guise of performing a medical exam, the administrative complaints allege that there was no medical necessity for Dr. Stockin to touch the patients’ genitals in this manner,” according to the Sanford Heisler Sharp press release. “The administrative complaint further alleges that the Army is liable under the FTCA because it was negligent in hiring, supervising, and retaining Dr. Stockin and that the Army lacked adequate protocols to keep patients safe from sexual abuse.”
“My clients went to this doctor because they were in pain,” said Christine Dunn, JD, one of the Sanford Heisler Sharp lawyers representing the patients, referred to only as John Doe 1 and John Doe 2. “They were in a vulnerable position, and they trusted this doctor. Dr. Stockin abused that trust. The Army had a duty to take reasonable measures to protect patients in its care. The fact that Dr. Stockin was able to abuse so many patients is compelling evidence that the Army was negligent in supervising Dr. Stockin.”
Increased Focus on Sexual Assault
The charges come at a time of increased focus on sexual assault in the military and how those cases are adjudicated. The Pentagon’s latest annual report found a 1% increase in sexual-assault reports, with every service except for the Army reporting an increase in 2022. However, the number of case dispositions resulting in a recommendation for court-martial has decreased by over 50% in the last decade. In 2013, 71% of cases where disciplinary action was found to be appropriate resulted in a recommendation for court-martial. In 2022 that number was 37%.
The decreasing number of cases actually going to trial, reports of retaliation against victims by other servicemembers and superior officers, as well as inexperience of military commanders in how to properly proceed in sexual-assault cases has led many lawmakers to seek reform in how such cases are treated in the military justice system.
On July 28, President Joe Biden signed an executive order transferring key decision-making authorities from commanders to specialized, independent military prosecutors in cases of sexual assault, domestic violence, murder, and other serious offenses. Those prosecutors will have first right of refusal on such cases and will decide in place of military commanders whether to prosecute.
The order also creates a uniform “preponderance of evidence” standard for the imposition of nonjudicial punishment across all services. The effective date for the changes laid out in the order is Dec. 27, 2023.
The door has also been opened for servicemembers to file civil suits against perpetrators of military sexual assault. In August 2022, an appeals court ruled that retired Army Col. Kathryn Spletstoser’s lawsuit against Air Force Gen. John Hyten, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for assaults that occurred during her time as his aide in 2017 could proceed. The court found that sexual assault could not be “incident to military service” and therefore did not fall under the Feres Doctrine, the rule which prevents servicemembers injured on active duty from suing the federal government. Spletstoser went on to reach a settlement with the U.S. government and was awarded $975,000 in restitution in July 2023.
The 2020 National Defense Authorization Act created a narrow exemption in the Feres Doctrine to allow for lawsuits for medical malpractice caused by a DoD provider.
Protect Our Defenders, a nonprofit group advocating on behalf of military sexual assault victims and which filed an amicus brief in support of Spletstoser, pointed at the Stokin case as another example of “closed systems where individuals in positions of power are rarely questioned or held accountable for their crimes” and called on the Army to put its full resources behind helping other potential victims to come forward.
“If these allegations are true, the military should bear responsibility for allowing this pattern of criminal predatory behavior to persist as assaults on dozens of servicemembers could have been avoided,” declared POD Vice President Josh Connolly in a statement. “[And] although the Ninth Circuit has opened the door to suing the military, Congress must act to codify this right into law to ensure that servicemembers can seek justice from a system that let them down so egregiously.”