TOMAH, WI (WTAQ) – The former VA Medical Center employee in Tomah who blew the whistle on the reported over-prescription of painkillers began a sit-in at the facility Tuesday.
Ryan Honl said he was upset that the center’s director told reporters he would not have done anything differently.
Director Mario DeSanctis told the La Crosse Tribune he has already made changes to address the alleged over-prescribing of opiates which reportedly led to a Stevens Point veteran’s death — and employee punishments for those who tried blowing the whistle on the Tomah center’s medical chief of staff, who has since been re-assigned.
Honl is making hourly posts on Facebook until a VA investigator meets with him.
Despite all the media coverage, Honl wrote that he does not expect the government to properly investigate the matter — but he was encouraged that he could meet with at least one person he could, as he put it, “speak the truth to.”
The Center for Investigative Reporting exposed prescription issues at Tomah two weeks ago. Since then, Wisconsin’s congressional delegation has been calling for federal investigations — and Senate Democrat Tammy Baldwin was heavily criticized once it was learned that she knew about the drug allegations 10 months ago and did not make them public or seek a Senate probe.
Baldwin later took responsibility for mistakes in communication, and the head of the VA announced a formal probe of the Tomah facility Monday.
(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)
