Soldier with Mild TBI Dies of Drug Overdose
Indiana National Guard Sgt. Gerald "G.J." Cassidy, who served his country in Bosnia and Iraq, died alone and ignored in a barracks at Fort Knox from an accidental drug overdose. His fate left a legacy that has changed the lives of thousands of wounded soldiers, Army officials say.
Cassidy began experiencing migraine headaches after a roadside bomb exploded about 11 feet from his Humvee in Iraq in August 2006. With diagnoses of post traumatic stress disorder and mild traumatic brain injury.
One Fort Knox soldier told investigators, "The staff at the WTU did not keep accountability of soldiers and were not making any checks on the welfare of soldiers" with PTSD and brain injury.
On the day Cassidy died, his platoon sergeant reported him at formation when he actually hadn't seen him for two days.
After repeated calls from Melissa Cassidy after she had not heard from him in a couple of days, Sgt. Cassidy was found dead in his chair. A toxicology report from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology ruled his death accidental, caused by "multi-drug toxicity," compounded by coronary artery disease.
Excerpted from Soldier's hospital death leads to changes as published in Associated Press. Information from: The Courier-Journal, http://www.courier-journal.com
