Submitted by Fox First at Ten on September 24th
By ANGELA K. BROWNAssociated Press
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - The Army psychiatrist charged in the deadly 2009 Fort Hood shooting rampage has been hospitalized for undisclosed reasons, military officials said Monday.
Maj. Nidal Hasan was listed in good condition after being admitted to the Texas Army post's hospital Saturday, and he should be released within two days, according to a Fort Hood new release. Medical privacy laws prevent the disclosure of information about Hasan's health or why he's there, the release said.
Hasan, 42, faces the death penalty or life in prison without parole if convicted in the November 2009 attack that killed 13 people and wounded more than two dozen others.
Hasan is paralyzed from the waist down after police at Fort Hood shot him the day of the rampage, but he has not been hospitalized since he was released in March 2010 after recovering from the gunshot wounds.
His former defense attorney, John Galligan, said Hasan has had health problems stemming from his catheter, including blood in his urine about a year ago. Galligan previously complained that Hasan was subjected to unsanitary conditions in jail by being forced to use a trash can instead of a toilet, and that jail staffers cleaned the toilet bucket in his sink.
Hasan is jailed in nearby Bell County because Fort Hood does not have holding facilities for Army defendants. The military justice system does not have bail for defendants.
Galligan, who has not spoken to Hasan in more than a year, said he has kept in touch with a few people close to Hasan.
"I don't believe any of those issues have been remedied, based on what I've been told," Galligan told The Associated Press on Monday from his Fort Hood-area office, about 125 miles southwest of Fort Worth.
Hasan's trial was set to begin in August, but all court proceedings are on hold over his newly grown beard that violates Army rules. Hasan, who says he grew his beard because his Muslim faith requires it, is appealing a judge's order that he must be clean-shaven or be forcibly shaved before the court-martial. The government has until Friday to respond to Hasan's appeal, and then the Army Court of Criminal Appeals is to rule on the matter.
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