WASHINGTON (WEAU) — A Congressional field hearing to look into whistleblower reports
about prescription drug abuse at the Veterans Affairs medical center in Tomah, Wisconsin is set for March 30th. The hearing comes after a report, first hidden by the VA Inspector General, shows a culture of fear among employees at the center and a high rate of prescriptions written for high dose opiates like morphine. There are also deaths under investigation at the medical center.
“Thats a sad statement on American politics and American government, said Republican Wisconsin Congressman Sean Duffy.
The statistics are damning. A clinical review found Tomah patients were 2.5 times more likely than the national VA average to be prescribed high dose opioids. Additional details show Tomah patients were prescribed benzodiazepines and opioids at the same time, a practice known to cause complications, nearly twice as much as other VA medical centers.
When you have higher doses and you dont have certain procedures and policies in place when prescribing opiates, you can have disastrous results so yes it is concerning. Especially when the community knows what is going on. When they call Tomah candy land and this one doctor the candy man it is well known that he is a prescriber of opiate drugs, said Duffy.
Theres a lot of finger pointing going on inside the U.S. Capitol.
The VA Office of Inspector General is accused of keeping the report on Tomah secret from the public, even hidden from the congressional committees responsible for overseeing the VA.
Several high-profile lawmakers like Senator Tammy Baldwin and Senator Ron Johnson are accused of fumbling whistleblower reports about the problems at the Tomah VA.
Some of the Wisconsin representatives knew what was going on and didnt do a lot to protect our veterans. I think when you have whistleblowers come forward and say we have problems in our VA system you need to come forward and make sure those veterans are protected. And you cant sit back and let those stories and those reports and those whistleblowers be pushed to the sidelines, Congressman Duffy told Washington Bureau Chief Jacqueline Policastro.
We reached out to both Senator Baldwin and Senator Johnson and their offices are fielding our interview requests right now.
Ahead of the March 30th field hearing were digging through the reports and the letters written by members of congress.
We are going to be able to hear from people on the ground with firsthand knowledge. Some of the whistleblowers are in that area who have been asked to testify and this is important because Congress has a responsibility to make sure that we get the policy right to make sure the proper protocols of care are followed, said Democratic Wisconsin Congressman Ron Kind.
The House Committee on Veterans Affairs tells us they hold less than 10 field hearings each year. This year Tomah is one of them and what happens at the hearing will help guide future legislative oversight efforts at VA hospitals around the country.
I dont think this is something that may just be unique to Tomah. I think we have got an issue throughout the entire VA system, throughout the entire health care system on the use of pain medication for patients. We have had other reports come out from private health care providers that they are wrestling with the same type of issues, said Kind.
Lawmakers say they wont stop investigating until they get answers about prescription drug practices at the Tomah VA, and they anticipate theyll expose other problems, even more deaths, at the upcoming field hearing.
