Oig Warned About Tomah Opiates

[Berta]

OIG warned about Tomah opiates

In part:

"WASHINGTON — Outside pharmacists warned investigators at the Department of Veterans Affairs as early as 2012 that health care providers at the VA Medical Center in Tomah were dispensing excessive amounts of opiates to veterans, and one warned they were so high that the Drug Enforcement Administration could revoke the center's license to dispense controlled substances.

But the investigators from the VA inspector general's office — who had solicited the pharmacists' independent opinions — did not include those warnings in their report on the investigation in March 2014. And despite the warnings, they trusted local and regional VA officials to fix the problems and closed the case without issuing a report to the public or Congress.

The problems weren't fixed. Last August, 35-year-old Marine Corps veteran Jason Simcakoski of Stevens Point died from mixed drug toxicity as an inpatient in Tomah just days after doctors agreed to add another opiate to the 14 drugs he was already prescribed."

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/2015/06/24/outside-pharmacists-warned-va-about-tomah-opiates/29245289/

More at http://www.disabledveterans.org/2015/06/26/va-oig-ignored-warnings-from-outside-pharmacists/

This is VA manipulation in action.

It is as bad as when to ROs refuse to consider IM0s...actually worse.At least those vets are alive and able to keep on the VA to read their IMOs.

And I certainly have said before and supported with personal evidence, that VA will even manipulate a C & P report if they think they can.

When that type of manipualtion happened to me... I didnt even know the report was manipulated when I called thre C & P doctor (they used to name them in the SOC)
and after my angry confrontation, he pulled out his actual C & P exam statement. By leaving off a few critical words at the end of it, VA was able to deny my claim.

Thats OK, they reversed because I had also filed under FTCA and had those documents.(ehich they failed to consider until I called the General COunsel and said the settlement deal was off.
Gen\eral Counsel called them and suddenly the d1151 denial was reversed.

Survivors of any Tomah med related deaths need to obtain all VA med recs and then sue the crap out of the VA.for wrongful death.

"The problems weren't fixed. Last August, 35-year-old Marine Corps veteran Jason Simcakoski of Stevens Point died from mixed drug toxicity as an inpatient in Tomah just days after doctors agreed to add another opiate to the 14 drugs he was already prescribed."

All of you men and women fought for this BS?????

I sure hope Fox News picks this one up.I will see if they have a tip contact section.

And just to remind anyone here, an Incident Report or even an IG investigation means nothing when it comes to being compensated for injury or death under 1151 or FTCA.

I think their have been more victims than we know at Tomah who might have allowed the 2 year FTCA statute to pass by, thinking IG reports or incident reports would help prove they were harmed or killed by VA health care.

The only incident report in my C file , was regarding a pharmacy error I discovered when the coroner asked me for the meds my husband was taking., the day after he died.

Meds for mail had sent him another vet's meds.The dose was probably what he should have been on all along, but I called the other vet and he could have died, because VA was refusing to believe him when he said he never got his meds in the mail.It He had been waiting by then for 3 weeks for his HBP meds critical to his condition.I called the Director at the VAMC right away. and the vet finally got his meds.

The incident report was on me...it said I had raised a ruckus in Pharmacy department, and was carrying around some VA regulations on a clipboard,and that I had on a yellow shirt and green pants.

No mention at all of the pharmacy error and they tried, but failed, to blame it on the Post Office.

That all however does not come close to what I feel will be revealed in time about Tomah.

And that info obviously wont come from the IG.

Edited June 26, 2015 by Berta

[john999]

That means to me that for those of us being treated for pain with opiates it will get that much harder to get our meds. It is ok to take a vet off opiates if there is a alternative to replace the opiates. What alternative is there? Yoga?

Anyone who has severe chronic pain knows that all the deep breathing and yoga will not served to ease your pain quickly. If the VA prescribed opiates for me for ten years I am sure my brain chemistry has changed. Now the VA's idea of tapering is to just tell you to take less of your pain meds and give you thirty days to do it and then then cut you off. I know this because I have had that experience before years ago.

Fact is there is no alternative to opiates for pain. If your pain was not chronic then something could have been done years ago to cure it. The word "Chronic" means long term and usual. I just got off the phone with the pain management people at the VA. There is a huge grey area in treatment of pain. There are about a million private pain doctors out there who just want to drain the insurance of people with chronic pain. When you deal with the VA it is like turning an aircraft carrier. It takes a wide, slow turn I think in their thinking.

John

[Berta]

I think the Tomah scandal has prevented many other vets from getting the pain meds they need and should have, while others were being over-medicated.

And I do think think this situation will get worse at Tomah if they find out who really got those meds......just my VAOLA paranoia kicking in.

There was a drug bust up here in local VA many years ago and at least one nurse got arrested.....

Every Dom vet who told me about it, told me it was being hushed up but they saw the police there........???

[Berta]

Gee, you can find almost anything on the internet

" VAMC Nurse Sentenced for Drug Diversion"

A former Bath, NY
VAMC licensed practical nurse was sentenced to 5 years’ probation
after pleading guilty to possession of
oxycodone. An OIG and VA Police Service
investigation revealed that the defendant diverted medications intended for patients for personal use"

Page 12 of 15....in 2011 I think it was

http://www.va.gov/oig/pubs/highlights/VAOIG-highlights-201407.pdf

[Pete53]

My path to pain meds was slammed shut last November. I now use Medicare for hydrocodone.

[TALON II FE]

I don't get pain meds at all, and, since I just started trying to get SSDI (since I can no longer wait for the VA to do right) it is hurting my case there, since "I can't be that bad off or I would be on stronger meds". What a goatrope.