WASHINGTON — Responding to complaints from two senators, the Pentagon reversed a policy Friday that barred Department of Veterans Affairs doctors from accessing some medical records of severely injured troops, the senators said.

In September, the Pentagon gave VA doctors access to its electronic medical records system of treatment in Iraq and Afghanistan for injured troops who have suffered severe, often multiple wounds, including loss of limbs and traumatic brain injury.

About 30 VA doctors at four trauma centers — in Richmond, Va.; Tampa, Fla.; Minneapolis; and Palo Alto, Calif. — used the system to track the medical treatment that injured troops received before arriving at the centers. The doctors have treated about 200 patients so far.

But the Pentagon blocked the doctors' access in January while an information sharing agreement was worked out with the VA.

Sens. Dan Akaka, D-Hawai'i, chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, and Larry Craig of Idaho, the committee's top Republican, found out and wrote to the Defense Department on Feb. 6, asking that they restore access to the system.

Craig called the Pentagon's decision to cut off access "about as dumb as you can get if your primary purpose is quality health- care" and later said he was glad the Pentagon and VA responded to his letter.

"This appears to be a bureaucratic legal snafu," Craig said. "Frankly, it's unfortunate it took our efforts to help resolve this."

Pentagon officials did not return calls on Friday.

Lisette Mondello, a VA spokeswoman, said good medical care is dependent on good information, adding that the combat theater information has been "especially useful" in treating the most severely injured veterans.

"The care of our patients has not been affected by this issue since most of that information was available through other sources," she said.

Still, Akaka and Craig said the situation could have become life-threatening to some seriously wounded troops.

"While some of the blocked information is available elsewhere, doctors shouldn't have to search for it and in medicine, more information is always better," Akaka said.

Joe Davis, spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said, "It's outrageous that the welfare of our wounded troops has taken a backseat to bureaucratic procedures."

Reach Dennis Camire at dcamire@gns.gannett.com.