U.S. Army suspends Western states medical chief

SEATTLE (Reuters) - The U.S. Army has suspended a recently-appointed medical chief of military hospitals in 20 Western states, citing an investigation into the "command climate of the organization," a spokeswoman for Joint Base Lewis-McChord said on Friday. Brigadier General John Cho, a cardiac surgeon who oversaw the Western Regional Medical Command for less than a year at Lewis-McChord, south of Seattle, would be reassigned to the Army surgeon general's office but be based in Washington state, the medical command's spokeswoman Sharon Ayala said. Ayala declined to provide specific reasons for Thursday's move, citing an ongoing investigation by the Army inspector general. "It has to do with the way he is or has commanded the organization," Ayala said. "We are an organization committed to transparency, and we are responsive to the concerns of our workforce." Cho, the first Korea-American Army soldier to earn the rank of brigadier general, will be replaced by Major General Thomas Tempel, chief of the Army's dental corps, Ayala said. Lewis-McChord, the largest military base on the U.S. west coast, has faced other probes over its medical care. Last year, the Army said it had reviewed allegations that a mental-health screening team at the base's Madigan Army Medical Center had reversed diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder after considering affiliated Army retirement and benefit costs. The Army determined that in some instances the original PTSD diagnoses were more accurate and said it would conduct a review of all diagnoses and evaluations made at its medical facilities. (Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; editing by Andrew Hay)