A bill introduced last week in the Senate would allow U.S. troops to file claims against the Defense Department for incidents of sexual assault or harassment that happen while serving on active duty.
Modeled after similar legislation the permits service members to sue DoD for damages caused by military medical malpractice, the proposed Military Sexual Trauma Accountability Act would let service members and veterans file civil claims for negligence over service-related sexual trauma.
Service members are barred from suing the federal government for injury or harm that occurs as a result of military duties under the Feres doctrine, a legal precedent based on a 1950 Supreme Court ruling on several service-related cases of injury.
But in late 2019, Congress passed a law that gave service members and surviving families the right to file medical malpractice claims against the Defense Department for harm or negligence caused by a military physician or civilian contractor in a military health facility.
Bill sponsors Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and John Kennedy, R-La., would carve out another exception to Feres and allow service members to hold the DoD accountable when it fails to prevent, investigate or was otherwise negligent in sexual misconduct cases.
“It makes no sense that civilians can seek justice from the government when the warriors who have sacrificed everything to protect our nation cannot. Our landmark legislation would right this wrong by tearing down the barriers that prevent members of the military and veterans from engaging the justice system to demand accountability and finally begin to heal,” Shaheen said in a statement.
“Service members give up a lot to defend this country, but they should not have to give up their right to hold the government accountable when its negligence contributes to sexual assault or harassment,” Kennedy said.
The legislation is supported by several veterans advocacy groups, including the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, the Service Women’s Action Network and Protect Our Defenders.
Service members filed 6,973 reports of sexual assault that occurred during military service in fiscal 2024.
Protect Our Defenders, which is representing at least 82 plaintiffs in a case that involves Army gynecologist Maj. Blaine McGraw, who faces 273 charges, including secretly photographing and taping his patients, noted in a media release that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that sexual assault cannot be treated as “incidental” to military service, but that decision only applies to the Ninth Circuit.
“The Military Sexual Trauma Accountability Act would extend that principle to every service member in every court in the country,” Protect Our Defenders advocates said.
According to the group, the Congressional Budget Office estimates 120,000 service members would file successful claims under the proposed bill in its first decade.
Under the provision of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act that allowed service members to file medical malpractice claims against military health facilities, some patients have prevailed, although not the legislation’s namesake, Master Sgt. Richard Stayskal, whose claim was denied by the U.S. Army.
According to the Army, since 2020, 351 claims have been filed, with 45 settled or pending settlement and 160 denied. Roughly 146 claims remain open or pending determination.
The service did not provide an amount for the total payout of the 45 claims.
“We recognize that behind every medical claim is a soldier or family member deserving our utmost respect. Consequently, the Army treats the medical claims process not merely as a legal mechanism for addressing grievances, but as a vital catalyst for systemic improvement, utilizing thorough reviews to enforce rigorous safety protocols and uphold our duty to our personnel with the highest level of integrity,” spokeswoman Heather Hagan wrote in an email Monday to Military Times.
Between January 2020 to February 2026, 184 medical malpractice claims were filed against the Air Force, and of those, 25 were approved, including 11 that were related to another claim, for a total reward amount of $2,159,895.93.
The Navy did not provide responses regarding their medical malpractice claims when asked by Military Times beginning last December.
From Jan. 1, 2020, to October 2022, the Navy had received 146 claims from sailors, Marines or their families who sought more than $1.1 billion in compensation. The service denied 58 claims and settled one for $250,000.
Under Feres, service members may not file a claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act for injuries or mishaps that are incidental to service including, training accidents and other on-duty harms.
This immunity has previously been extended to military contractors providing services in combat zones as well, but in April, the U.S. Supreme Court upended earlier rulings by affirming an Army soldier’s right to sue a military contractor whose employee detonated a suicide bomb on Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan in 2016.
In the decision, Justice Clarence Thomas said that the contractor’s argument — that it had immunity in wartime under federal law that shields the military from being sued for combat-related decisions — swept “too broadly.”
Thomas has argued for years that the Feres decision should be reconsidered. In 2025, he penned a strongly-worded 14-page dissent after the court rejected a case that would challenge the doctrine, calling the law “indefensible” and “senseless as matter of policy.”
Patricia Kime is a senior writer covering military and veterans health care, medicine and personnel issues.
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