By Aaron Glantz
Doctors at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs medical center in Tomah, Wisconsin, hand out so many narcotic painkillers that some veterans have taken to calling the place “Candy Land.”
They call the hospital’s chief of staff, psychiatrist Dr. David Houlihan, the “Candy Man.”
Current and former hospital staff members describe patients who show up to appointments stoned on painkillers and muscle relaxants, doze off and drool during therapy sessions, and burn themselves with cigarettes. They told The Center for Investigative Reporting that Houlihan himself “doped up” or “zombified” their patients and that workers who raised questions have been punished.
Data obtained by CIR shows the number of opiate prescriptions at the Tomah VA more than quintupled from 2004, the year before Houlihan became chief of staff of the hospital, to 2012, even as the number of veterans seeking care at the hospital declined. In August, a 35-year-old Marine Corps veteran died of an overdose in the inpatient psychiatric ward.
“It’s a system that’s gone completely haywire,” said Ryan Honl, a Gulf War veteran and graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point who in October resigned from his position as a secretary in the hospital’s mental health clinic after two months, filing a federal whistleblower complaint on his way out.
The problems at this rural medical center underscore the difficulty the VA is having maintaining standards of quality patient care, even after a national scandal forced VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to resign last May.
“Read the Full Article at www.channel3000.com >>>>”
All content herein is owned by author exclusively. Expressed opinions are NOT necessarily the views of VNR, authors, affiliates, advertisers, sponsors, partners, technicians, or VT Network. Some content may be satirical in nature.
All images within are full responsibility of the author and NOT VNR.
Read Full Policy Notice - Comment Policy
