Dozens of soldiers file $210M in claims over JBLM doctor’s sex abuse

John Doe 30 didn’t realize he was a sex abuse victim until he read a news article about Maj. Michael Stockin, an Army doctor he had seen for pain management at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

It was then, more than a year after he was treated at Madigan Army Medical Center and after he was interviewed by Army investigators, that he understood there were many others with stories of Stockin touching them inappropriately during a medical exam.

John Doe 30 is one of 20 former patients of Stockin who filed new civil complaints this month against the Army and Department of Defense.

The new Federal Tort Claims Act administrative complaints bring the total to at least 42 from former patients of Stockin, who pleaded guilty in January to sexual misconduct involving 41 victims, all members of the military. He was sentenced to 13 years and eight months in a military prison, the maximum allowed under the plea agreement.

As an anesthesiologist and pain-management physician at Madigan Army Medical Center, Stockin would ask male patients to remove their underwear, then touch their genitalia under the guise of medical care. None of the “exams” were medically necessary and were instead for his own sexual gratification, Stockin admitted to a military judge during his court-martial.

The 42 men, who all served in the Army or Navy, each seek $5 million to account for the past, present and future psychological trauma they say they’ve experienced, as well as medical and mental health costs and loss of professional opportunities. The claims total $210 million.

They say the Army was negligent in hiring and supervising Stockin, allowing his behavior to continue for years. Stockin worked at Madigan from 2019 to February 2022, when he was suspended from patient care while the Army began its investigation.

Christine Dunn, the lawyer representing the 42 men, said the 20 new claims came from former patients of Stockin who contacted her law firm during and following Stockin’s court-martial hearings.

Some of the men were identified as Stockin’s victims in the criminal case, and others said they were interviewed by Army investigators but weren’t included among the victims. A handful said they were never contacted by investigators and only learned about Stockin’s case from news articles.

“Many of them came forward because they didn’t feel Dr. Stockin’s punishment fit the amount of harm he had done,” said Dunn, with law firm Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight. “I think a lot of them sitting in the courtroom or reading about it in the news felt the Army needed to be held accountable.”

The Army has received the 20 new claims and is reviewing them “for legal sufficiency before investigating their factual allegations,” spokesperson Lt. Col. Ruth Castro said in a statement.

“No decision on how to respond will be made until the Army’s review is complete and the claims have been investigated,” Castro said.

Under the FTCA, a person who is injured by a federal employee’s wrongful or negligent act can file a claim for reimbursement for the injury. After an investigation that ends with the agency either settling or denying the claim, the claimant can decide whether to file a federal lawsuit.

An FTCA claim has a two-year statute of limitations and all the patients were seen by Stockin more than two years ago. However, Dunn said, they didn’t realize they were victims until they saw the widespread nature of Stockin’s abuse.

John Doe 30 went to Madigan because of arthritis and chronic back pain. In his claim, he detailed the impact on his emotional health and relationships stemming from the abuse and the court-martial proceedings. He couldn’t touch his wife for months after he saw Stockin, and the two eventually divorced. He was interviewed by investigators but wasn’t informed that there were others with similar stories to his, he said. He only learned about the case when he read a Washington Post article about Stockin.

“Only upon learning that numerous other patients of Dr. Stockin had suffered sexual abuse during medical exams did I understand that the Army’s negligence in employing and supervising Dr. Stockin and failing to put adequate safeguards in place directly facilitated the abuse I experienced,” the patient said in his claim.

He was upset that he wasn’t included as a charged victim, and said that as a result, he developed a substance-abuse disorder.

“I deal regularly with significant feelings of anguish and anger about what the Army allowed to happen to me,” he said in his claim. “I deal with mistrust because of how I was violated.”

Stockin will be discharged from the Army and serve his sentence in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He will be required to register as a sex offender and will lose his medical license when he is released.