Heather McDonald speaks about her husband’s death at a House subcommittee hearing. Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran Scott Alan McDonald died of an overdose of Percocet on Sept. 13, 2012.Amanda Voisard/The Center for Investigative Reporting Department of Veterans Affairs physicians told a House subcommittee today that hospital administrators regularly pressured them to prescribe highly addictive […]
Returning Home to Battle
For many veterans, the end of active duty means the beginning of a new fight with the U.S Department of Veterans Affairs – for benefits, housing and a chance to rebuild their lives.
Posted inReturning Home to Battle
Live blog: Congressional hearing on VA opiate prescriptions
Tune in here for updates from the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs health subcommittee hearing to examine the VA’s rising prescriptions of opiate painkillers.
Posted inHealth Care, Health Care for Veterans, Returning Home to Battle
The drama of an investigation
Playwright Jon Bernson turned an investigative report about female veterans’ struggles into a one-act play.
Posted inHealth Care, Health Care for Veterans, Opiates, Returning Home to Battle
The VA’s pain pill habit
Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the number of opiate prescriptions by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has skyrocketed. In some cases, the VA has prescribed drugs to known addicts.
Posted inOpiates, Returning Home to Battle
Pilot 1: The VA’s deadly pain pill habit
An exclusive story about the volume and impact stemming from the VA’s overprescription of opiates to addicted veterans; the attorney behind many of the worst for-profit charities; bodycams for cops; and how one reporter helped one man prove his brother had been abused at a state mental facility.
Posted inOpiates, Returning Home to Battle
VA’s opiate overload feeds veterans’ addictions, overdose deaths
The Department of Veterans Affairs has supplied Tim Fazio with nearly 4,000 oxycodone pills since he returned home after tours in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2008. Fazio says he was never in acute physical pain but used the pills to blot out feelings of guilt for surviving when many of his friends did not.Adithya Sambamurthy/The […]
Posted inReturning Home to Battle
How we analyzed the VA’s opiate prescription data
We combined two VA data sets to illustrate the agency’s opiate prescriptions around the country.
Posted inReturning Home to Battle
How to localize CIR’s reporting on VA opiate prescriptions
How many opiate prescriptions is the Department of Veterans Affairs giving to veterans in your area? There is ample opportunity for journalists to localize this story.
Posted inReturning Home to Battle
Obama hails drop in VA backlog, but vets still face long wait on claims
Veterans’ advocates are praising a speech by President Barack Obama on the massive backlog of disability claims, marking the first time the president personally addressed the problem since it came to widespread public attention this spring.