WASHINGTON D.C. (WTAQ) – The nation’s top veterans’ official has ordered an investigation of the Tomah VA Medical Center and the reported over-prescriptions of painkillers.
Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald said Monday that Interim Health Undersecretary Carolyn Clancy would lead a comprehensive review of prescription practices.
Also, an accountability review team will look into alleged retaliation against employees who criticized hospital chief of staff David Houlihan, who has since been re-assigned.
McDonald says the probe will begin this week and would last for about a month.
Workers complained about Houlihan’s prescription practices and management style for at least 5 years. None of it became public until two weeks ago, when the Center for Investigative Reporting finally exposed it.
That was when we first learned that a veteran from Stevens Point died at the VA center last August, after having a painkiller addiction and anxiety.
A whistleblower said he tried getting U.S. Senate Democrat Tammy Baldwin to expose problems at Tomah last year, and order a Senate investigation. But she did not seek the probe until after the matter became public.
Baldwin took responsibility for not acting sooner, and not communicating as well as she could have.
Meanwhile, the VA’s pharmacy services at Tomah now report to the center’s associate director instead of the chief of staff, so clinical decisions can be appealed easier.
A pain control specialist has also been assigned at Tomah, to handle pain management separately from psychiatric care.
(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)
