Patricia Kime

Patricia Kime is a senior writer covering military and veterans health care, medicine and personnel issues.


  • Veterans stung by Mabus comments on Camp Lejeune water
    Veterans stung by Mabus comments on Camp Lejeune water

    Ill veterans and those whose family members died from diseases related to exposure to contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune are outraged by recent comments made by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus.

  • VA takes issue with accountability bills in Congress
    VA takes issue with accountability bills in Congress

    The Veterans Affairs Department is pushing back on a legislative proposal to hold VA senior executives accountable by capping the number of top-level managers eligible for the highest performance ratings and cutting retirement pay of officials convic

  • Bono named head of Defense Health Agency
    Bono named head of Defense Health Agency

    A Navy rear admiral has been named the second director of the Defense Health Agency.

  • CW4’s message on preventing suicide: Seek help
    CW4’s message on preventing suicide: Seek help

    Chief Warrant Officer 4 Clifford Bauman was four blocks from the Pentagon, heading to a meeting there on Sept. 11, 2001, when Flight 77 dove into He sent the sergeant first class he was with back to the office and ran ot help with the rescue effots.

  • FBI’s role in Tomah VA case under Senate scrutiny
    FBI’s role in Tomah VA case under Senate scrutiny

    A Senate committee has asked the FBI to explain why a veteran who died at the Tomah, Wisconsin, VA Medical Center contacted law enforcement before his accidental overdose death in August 2014.

  • Military brain bank donor explains why it’s right thing
    Military brain bank donor explains why it’s right thing

    It’s been 54 years since Navy storekeeper Richard Fournier was knocked on the head and robbed by three Marines in Honolulu — an assault that left him with a lifetime of psychological and physical problems.

  • Panel: Stigma is obstacle to mental health care
    Panel: Stigma is obstacle to mental health care

    The Pentagon and VA have “nudged the needle” forward in promoting mental health treatment to troops and veterans.

  • A pill to prevent hearing loss holds promise
    A pill to prevent hearing loss holds promise

    The crack of an M16 shot rings out at 156 decibels. A jet engine at takeoff blasts about 140 decibels. Submarine engine rooms drone along at 120 decibels.

  • Pentagon warns of Tricare mail scam
    Pentagon warns of Tricare mail scam

    The Defense Health Agency is warning Tricare beneficiaries of an elaborate mail scam designed to steal money from their banks.

  • Report: VA lost 10,000 health applications
    Report: VA lost 10,000 health applications

    The VA’s system for tracking veterans’ applications for medical care is so unreliable, it’s impossible for the department to know how many former troops on the list still want care or even if they are alive, according to a new VA inspector general re