Hospitals Admit 'Wounded' In Defense Department Drill

Two Harvard-affiliated hospitals this week cleared beds for military casualties as part of "Operation Fallen Patriot."

A U.S. Defense Department drill, the operation is the local arm of a mock enactment of what would happen in the event of a conventional war enervation. More than 780 hospitals nationwide are participating in the drill under the Civilian-Military Contingency Hospital System (CMCHS), a plan begun in 1981.

Operation Fallen Patriot comes on the heels of project REPORGER--Return Forces to Germany. Under that operation, troops from NATO countries for the past three weeks pretended to fight WARSAW troops in Germany, Captain DeCesare, Chief of Plans and Training at Fort Devens, Mass, said yesterday.

Rather than returning directly to their bases, U.S. troops taking part in that drill this week will be transported to hospitals throughout the country to test the availability of hospital beds in an emergency.

Participating hospitals will receive bandaged soldiers with much injuries, but will not treat them. "Rather than testing the quality of medical care, the test exercises admission, communication, and transportation procedures," said CMCHS officers.

Thirty-seven hospitals in the Boston area agreed to receive the military's fallen patriots throughout the week. Among these are Harvard-affiliates. Beth Israel Hospital and New England Deconess.

Ten hospitals declined because they would not be able to evacuate enough beds in the event of a war.

Harvard-linked Boston City Hospital was among those refusing to take part in the drill "It wasn't necessary to sign up for this; it war victims need to be treated, the beds will be available," said Warren Tessler, who helps coordinate the hospital's emergency services.

The drill has drawn criticism from some anit-nuclear activists that claim it is an attempt to condition the public for a nuclear war.

The remaining Harvard-affiliated hospitals yesterday gave no political explanations for failing to particiapte in the drill.

But four non-affiliated hospitals declined because of "dissention among staff members for apparent political reasons," DeCesare said.

Saint Elizabeth's Hospital in Brighton waited six months before accepting the military's invitation while staff members debated whether they would be making nuclear war more feasible by participating, said James Kerrigan, the hospital's chief of staff.

DeCesare said. "The casualties produced in a nuclear war would far out number the beds available in the system today. But this system is strictly for a conventional war."