Lawmakers move to require chaperones for ‘sensitive’ appointments in military health system

Following high profile cases of sexual assault involving Army doctors, House lawmakers have proposed that chaperones be required at military hospitals and clinics for sensitive medical exams.

Members of the House Armed Services Committee voted unanimously Thursday to include the mandate in their markup of the fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act.

Under the provision, a trained third party would have to be present for exams conducted by obstetrician-gynecologists at military treatment facilities.

The amendment was sponsored by Rep. Jill Tokuda, D-Hawaii, whose district includes Tripler Army Medical Center, one of the facilities where Army gynecologist Maj. Blaine McGraw, is accused of sexually abusing and secretly recording female patients.

McGraw, 48, faces eight charges and 273 specifications involving 96 victims across a period of seven years at Tripler and the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center in Fort Hood, Texas.

During his Article 32 hearing on May 26, witnesses for the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division said McGraw admitted recording patients, claiming he did it for the purpose of notetaking but also told investigators he had “voyeuristic tendencies” as a teenager that were exacerbated by a traumatic deployment to Syria, according to the Killeen Daily Herald.

Tokuda’s amendment would require military health facilities to train chaperones and ensure they be used for any exam, treatment or procedure that involves the ”genitalia, rectum or female breasts” or for forensic health exams.

It follows a Defense Health Agency policy change last year that said physicians must offer chaperones for sensitive medical exams or procedures.

Patients have always had access to a chaperone in the military health system, but doctors are now required to offer one under the policy.

The proposed requirement would not have had any impact on a separate sexual assault case involving Army physician Maj. Michael Stockin, who was sentenced in 2025 to nearly 14 years in prison for sexually abusing patients at Madigan Army Medical Center in Washington.

Stockin, an anesthesiologist and pain management specialist, pleaded guilty to 41 violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, including abusive sexual contact and indecent viewing with male patients during medical exams.

At the time of Stockin’s investigation, it was considered one of the largest cases involving sexual assault in the U.S. military.

The committee’s markup of the defense policy bill must pass the House and be negotiated in conference process with the Senate before it becomes law.