Madigan Army Medical Center Madigan Army Medical Center , located on Joint Base Lewis - McChord just outside Tacoma , Washington , is a key component of the Madigan Healthcare System and one of the largest military hospitals on the West Coast of the USA . The hospital was named in honor of Colonel Patrick S . Madigan , an assistant to the U . S . Army Surgeon General from 1940 to 1943 who was also known as " The Father of Army Neuropsychiatry . " On September 22 , 1944 , Madigan General Hospital was named in his honor . The hospital today is a 205 - bed Joint Commission - accredited facility , expandable to 318 beds in the event of a disaster . Major services include general medical and surgical care , adult and pediatric primary care clinics , 24 - hour Emergency department , specialty clinics , clinical services , wellness and prevention services , veterinary care , and environmental health services . Madigan Army Medical Center received designation as a level 2 trauma center by the Washington State Department of Health in 1995 , and has maintained level 2 status to the present day . Madigan Army Medical Center is one of three designated trauma centers in United States Army Medical Department ( AMEDD ) . In 1999 , Madigan became the second military hospital to ever receive a perfect score of “ 100 ” from Joint Commission . Construction of the current facility was completed in the early 1990s . Prior to the opening of the building , the hospital consisted of a network of connected single - story buildings that are still utilized by the Madigan Healthcare System . Deployment and Readiness Medicine . Madigan Army Medical Center and other Madigan Healthcare System facilities provide medical support to the Army and Air Force units of Joint Base Lewis - McChord at home and abroad . PROFIS is only for medical Soldiers , and mostly affects doctors and commissioned nurses . The system designates qualified active Army AMEDD personnel working in non - deployable units like Madigan , and directs them to fill a unit activated to deploy . The tour length is different for every PROFIS Soldier , with most doctors and nurses going overseas for six months to a year . Graduate Medical Education ( GME ) . Graduate Medical Education ( GME ) training programs at Madigan Army Medical Center are offered only to military officers in the Armed Forces . This institution does not participate in the National Resident Matching Program . Allegations of war stress treatment issues . The alleged perpetrator of the Kandahar massacre was based at Joint Base Lewis - McChord ( JBLM ) . Before and after the massacre questions were raised about the quality of medical treatment and psychological diagnostics at Madigan . The center was under investigation because of allegations that the center ' s staff downgraded diagnoses of post - traumatic stress disorder for 300 service members to lesser conditions . The center ' s chief , Colonel Dallas Homas , and mental health chief , William Keppler , were placed on administrative leave during the inquiry . Keppler had reportedly told the center ' s staff that a diagnosis of PTSD costs the military $ 1 . 5 million over each servicemember ' s lifetime in health benefits and disability payments . A forensic psychologist at the center , Juliana Ellis - Billingsley , confident that doctors at Madigan were properly diagnosing Madigan patients using the highest mental health standards , resigned on 23 February 2012 due to what she apparently believed was undue pressure being brought on the Madigan physicians by politicians and DoD leadership in Washington D . C . to make PTSD diagnosis that were not consistent with the legitimate medical standards . In her resignation letter , Dr . Billingsley stated , " I find that I can no longer work in a system that requires me to sacrifice my professional and moral principles to political expediency . " in her resignation letter . In the wake of Pentagon and Congressional scrutiny the Army reluctantly released a 100 - page report , dated April 1 , 2012 that backs Madigan commander Col . Dallas Homas , and supports the manner in which the hospital carried out forensic psychiatric evaluations before accusations of reversing PTSD diagnoses . The report also concludes that Homas never influenced PTSD diagnoses , and that whistleblowers were misinformed in their criticism . Military support groups around the base have alleged that base commanders did not give returning troops sufficient time to recover before sending them on more deployments . The groups have also alleged that the base ' s medical staff is understaffed and overwhelmed by the numbers of returning veterans with deployment - related medical and psychological trauma . Since 2003 , 68 servicemembers stationed at the base have committed suicide , with 16 taking their own lives in 2011 . Other US Army bases , however , such as Fort Hood , Fort Campbell and Fort Bragg , have experienced higher rates of suicide and similar crime rates . Soldiers from the base have been linked to other atrocities and crimes . The 2010 Maywand District murders involved JBLM - based soldiers . Also in 2010 , a recently discharged AWOL soldier from JBLM shot a police officer in Salt Lake City . In April 2011 , a JBLM soldier killed his wife and 5 - year - old son before killing himself . In January 2012 , a JBLM soldier murdered a Mount Rainier National Park ranger . Two JBLM soldiers have been charged with waterboarding their children . Jorge Gonzalez , executive director of a veterans resource center near Fort Lewis , said that Kandahar ' s killings offer more proof that the base is dysfunctional : " This was not a rogue soldier . JBLM is a rogue base , with a severe leadership problem " , he said in a statement . Base officials responded , saying that the crimes committed by its soldiers were isolated events which don ' t , " reflect on the work and dedication of all service members . " Robert H . Scales opined that conditions at JBLM were not necessarily an underlying factor in the shootings , instead suggesting that it was the 10 years of constant warfare in Iraq , Afghanistan , and elsewhere , and the repeated deployments required of the US ' s overtasked military .