Nearly 100,000 veterans currently are receiving prescriptions for both tranquilizers and narcotic painkillers from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, a potentially deadly combination that is explicitly discouraged by agency guidelines.
Aaron Glantz
Senior Reporter
Aaron Glantz was a senior reporter at Reveal. He is the author of "Homewreckers: How a Gang of Wall Street Kingpins, Hedge Fund Magnates, Crooked Banks, and Vulture Capitalists Suckered Millions Out of Their Homes and Demolished the American Dream." Glantz produces journalism with impact. His work has sparked more than a dozen congressional hearings, numerous laws and criminal probes by the Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI, Pentagon and Federal Trade Commission. A two-time Peabody Award winner, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, multiple Emmy Award nominee and former John S. Knight journalism fellow at Stanford University, Glantz has had his work has appear in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, NBC Nightly News, Good Morning America and PBS NewsHour. His previous books include "The War Comes Home" and "How America Lost Iraq."
Posted inHealth Care for Veterans, Opiates, Returning Home to Battle
See results of government investigations into VA in Tomah, Wisconsin
Our investigation disclosing skyrocketing opiate prescriptions and retaliatory management practices at a VA medical center in Wisconsin touched off a variety of federal and state government investigations.
Posted inHealth Care for Veterans, Opiates, Returning Home to Battle
The death of baby Ada Mae and the tragic effects of addicted veterans
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Tomah, Wisconsin, notorious for its skyrocketing rate of opiate prescriptions, has contributed to dozens of tragedies that have affected people other than the veterans taking the drugs.
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Posted inHealth Care for Veterans, Opiates, Returning Home to Battle
Wisconsin VA’s opiate overprescription harmed patients, report finds
A preliminary report by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs revealed that runaway opiate prescriptions and a culture of fear created by hospital leadership compromised patient care and harmed the staff at the Tomah, Wisconsin, VA.
Posted inHealth Care, Health Care for Veterans, Opiates, Returning Home to Battle
VA gave $8,025 bonus to director of troubled Wisconsin hospital
Mario DeSanctis, director of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Tomah, Wisconsin, said his performance bonus was “warranted and justified” even though the facility was being investigated over runaway painkiller prescriptions and patient overdoses.
Posted inHealth Care, Health Care for Veterans, Opiates, Returning Home to Battle
VA inspector general finally releases report on Wisconsin hospital
The Department of Veterans Affairs’ inspector general’s office has publicly released its scathing report documenting runaway painkiller prescriptions and abuse of administrative authority at the VA hospital in Tomah, Wisconsin, nearly a year after it closed the case.
Posted inHealth Care, Opiates, Returning Home to Battle
Investigator visit to Wisconsin veterans hospital feels like déjà vu
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs investigated problems at the Tomah VA Medical Center for two years but never released an official report of its findings, leaving some to wonder whether the agency is capable of policing itself.
Posted inHealth Care, Opiates, Returning Home to Battle
VA to send specialists to investigate problems at Wisconsin hospital
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs said it will conduct an internal investigation after a CIR report documented opiate overprescription and other issues at the Tomah VA hospital.
Posted inHealth Care for Veterans, Opiates, Returning Home to Battle
Alarm over Wisconsin VA’s troubles follows years of complaints
Politicians from both parties and government bureaucrats are rushing to look into allegations of overmedication, retaliatory management practices and preventable overdose deaths at a Wisconsin VA hospital, revealed by CIR.
Posted inHealth Care, Opiates, Returning Home to Battle
Opiates handed out like candy to ‘doped-up’ veterans at Wisconsin VA
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.”