The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Ex-US Navy SEAL's killing puts focus on war's psychological toll
- Two killed in Ecuador pro-government rally - President Correa
- Catholic hospital group apologizes for foetus lawsuit defence
| Ex-US Navy SEAL's killing puts focus on war's psychological toll Posted: 04 Feb 2013 08:41 PM PST (Reuters) - The slayings of former U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle and another man trying to help a troubled U.S. military veteran, now charged with killing them at a Texas gun range, has renewed focus on the psychological wounds of war.
Eddie Lee Routh, 25, of Lancaster, Texas, an active duty Marine from 2006 to 2010 who served in the Iraq war, faces murder charges that could lead to the death penalty in Saturday's shootings at a gun range 50 miles (80 kilometres)southwest of Fort Worth. Routh, a military reservist, is charged with one count of capital murder and two counts of murder in the shooting deaths of Kyle, 38, and Kyle's friend, Chad Littlefield, 35. The pair were shot at close range at the Rough Creek Ranch gun range, which was designed by Kyle, a distinguished military sniper Routh is being held on a $3 million (1.9 million pounds) bond at a county jail, and Dallas television station KXAS reported that he was tasered by jail guards on Sunday night after becoming aggressive and had been placed on suicide watch. Jason Upshaw, a captain in the Erath County Sheriff's Office, said on Sunday Routh's mother had reached out to Kyle to try to help her son, who Marine Corps records show served one tour of duty in Iraq. Officials said Routh's mother may have contacted Kyle, author of the book "American Sniper," because he co-founded the FITCO Cares Foundation that tries to help veterans recovering from physical and emotional injuries. Twice in recent months, Routh was taken to a mental hospital after behaving erratically, according to police reports from Dallas and his hometown of Lancaster. The Lancaster police report said Routh's mother called police in September because he had been drinking and became upset and threatening when his father told the veteran he was going to sell his gun. Police found Routh wandering and crying nearby, without a shirt or shoes, and he told an officer he was a Marine veteran who suffered from post-traumatic stress, the Lancaster police report said. Authorities were still trying to determine what led to Saturday's shooting, which took place at close range. "I don't know that we will ever know," Erath County Sheriff Tommy Bryant told a news conference on Sunday. POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS Law enforcement officers have not said Routh specifically suffers from post traumatic stress, a severe anxiety disorder caused by witnessing or participating in traumatic events, but the killings renewed the focus on PTSD among veterans. The Department of Veterans Affairs estimated in a report released last fall that about 30 percent of returning Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans suffered from some form of post-traumatic stress. The shooting would not be typical of a veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress alone, said Dr. Harry Croft, a San Antonio psychiatrist who specializes in treating veterans for post-traumatic stress. "Although this is very sensational and very tragic, it is at the same time, very rare," Croft said, adding that he was concerned it might stigmatize returning veterans. Julie Wynn, a counsellor who has worked with returning veterans as well as survivors of the 2009 shooting incident at Fort Hood, said the stress of war affects everyone differently. "Some people come home and they never have a problem, they put it behind them, they lead normal lives," she said. "Other people, with stressors like family, jobs, the economy, they don't do well with moving on." The U.S. military acknowledged in January that suicides had hit a record last year, outpacing combat deaths, with 349 active-duty suicides. In response, Army Secretary John McHugh on Monday told a news conference at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state that he has ordered Army officials to lay out detailed plans by February 15 to boost soldiers' "physical, emotional and psychological resilience." "Interventions are not coming as soon as I would like to see them," McHugh told reporters. Kyle at the time of his death was doing his own part to aid returning members of the military. He had been volunteering to help Marine Corps veterans suffering from PTSD, sometimes taking them to the shooting range, according to a posting on a website run by members of the Special Operations Forces. Kyle had called ahead to let staff know the group would be there on Saturday, and the three men rode together to the range in Kyle's pickup truck, officials said. After the shooting, Routh drove to his sister's house in Kyle's truck and told her what happened, authorities said. She called police after he headed home, where he was arrested a short time later. Kyle, who served four combat tours of duty in Iraq, won two Silver Stars and five Bronze Stars for bravery, according to his book, which covers his military service from 1999 to 2009. (Additional reporting by Marice Richter in Dallas, Laura L. Myers in Tacoma, Washington, and Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by David Bailey, Barbara Goldberg, Todd Eastham and Xavier Briand) Copyright © 2013 Reuters | ||
| Two killed in Ecuador pro-government rally - President Correa Posted: 04 Feb 2013 08:29 PM PST QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuador's President Rafael Correa on Monday evening said two government supporters were killed and several suffered stab wounds during a campaign rally almost two weeks before a presidential election that the leftist leader is expected to win comfortably. "Crazy person stabs seven AP people while they were waiting for the President. Two have been killed," Correa said in his Twitter account, referring to supporters of the ruling Alianza Pais political movement, AP.
The incident occurred ahead of a campaign rally in Quininde, a town in the western Esmeraldas province. A video showed at a press conference at the Interior Ministry in Quito showed a man with a large knife attacking Correa supporters. "Before the president was due to arrive ... we can see in these images how this person stabs the people that were standing up front," said Interior Minister Jose Serrano. He said that four people were wounded and that police had arrested the person who they think carried out the attack. Correa, an ally of socialist Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez is expected to win the February 17 vote. Polls give him between 50 percent and 60 percent of votes, at least 30 percentage points ahead of his nearest rival, Guillermo Lasso, a former banker. Correa has boosted state spending on welfare and infrastructure, which has made the 49-year-old very popular among the country's low-income majority. The U.S.-trained economist has been at odds with foreign investors since taking office in 2007. He rattled Wall Street when he defaulted on $3.2 billion (2 billion pounds) on foreign bonds in 2008, and two years later forced foreign oil companies to sign deals granting the state a larger share of their revenues. (Reporting By Eduardo Garcia; Editing by Eric Walsh) Copyright © 2013 Reuters | ||
| Catholic hospital group apologizes for foetus lawsuit defence Posted: 04 Feb 2013 08:15 PM PST DENVER (Reuters) - A Catholic hospital group said on Monday it was "morally wrong" to contradict its church's teachings on the beginning of life when it argued foetuses are not people to defend itself against a wrongful death lawsuit in Colorado. Catholic Health Initiatives said it will instead use other legal theories in the case. The legal defence the hospital group has since disavowed stems from a malpractice and wrongful death lawsuit filed by Jeremy Stodghill in the 2006 deaths of his pregnant wife, Lori, and the couple's twin foetuses. The hospital group received widespread criticism when it surfaced that its lawyers had successfully argued the claims on behalf of the unborn twins should be dismissed under a Colorado law that says foetuses do not have legal status. The argument contradicted the Roman Catholic church's longstanding teaching that life begins at conception. The hospital group said in a statement on Monday that its lawyers were "morally wrong" to cite Colorado's so-called Wrongful Death Act in defending the lawsuit "Although the argument was legally correct, recourse to an unjust law was morally wrong," the statement said. The 31-year-old Lori Stodghill, who was seven months pregnant, collapsed at St. Thomas More Hospital & Medical Centre in Canon City, Colorado, and died of a pulmonary embolism. The facility is part of Catholic Health Initiatives, which operates hospitals in 17 states. Stodghill's lawsuit claimed that physicians failed to make any effort to save the foetuses, who also perished, by performing an emergency caesarean section. A trial court agreed with the hospital's argument and dismissed the lawsuit's claims on behalf of the foetuses. Jeremy Stodghill has appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court, which has not yet ruled on whether it will hear the case. The hospital group said if the case is heard by the state's high court, its defence will Centre on "causation," or whether hospital personnel were negligent in their treatment of Lori Stodghill. After they became aware of the lawsuit last month, Colorado's top three bishops vowed to review the case "to ensure fidelity and faithful witness to the teachings of the Catholic Church" were being followed by the hospital group. In a separate statement issued on Monday, Denver Archbishop Samuel Aquila, Colorado Springs Bishop Michael Sheridan and Pueblo Bishop Fernando Isern said they were assured by the hospital group that the Catholic institution was not responsible for the deaths. "Evidence indicates that (the hospital) undertook all possible efforts to save Lori Stodghill," the bishops said, adding that hospital staff "testified that the Stodghill children tragically died before medical care commenced, so an emergency C-section would not have saved them." Jeremy Stodghill's attorney, Beth Krulewitch, said her client was disappointed in the statement from the bishops and the hospital group, which she called inaccurate. "It does not appear to reflect a real investigation and does nothing to address the harm done to Jeremy Stodghill in this case," Krulewitch said. (Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis, Lisa Shumaker and Eric Walsh) Copyright © 2013 Reuters |
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