For some wounded veterans, strong prescription drugs can be cause of more pain

[slimvictor]

Transcript

GWEN IFILL: Next: a troubling account of the consequences of overprescribing addictive painkillers to veterans.

The death rate from overdoses of those drugs at Veterans Affairs hospitals is twice the national average. But data shows the VA continues to prescribe increasing amounts of narcotic painkillers to many patients.

The correspondent is Aaron Glantz.

AARON GLANTZ: U.S. Army Specialist Jeffrey Waggoner received a funeral with full military honors. He was medically evacuated out of Afghanistan in 2007 after he sustained a groin injury when a rocket-propelled grenade exploded during a house-to-house search.

But that's not what killed him. Waggoner survived his deployment. He died back home in this motel, just hours after being discharged from a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Oregon. While recovering from his wounds, Waggoner's mental state deteriorated. He became addicted to painkillers. And the Army sent him to the detox center at this VA hospital in Roseburg to get clean.

But the hospital continued to give him narcotics. And after two months, they released him with a massive cocktail of drugs, including 12 tablets of the painkiller oxycodone. Since Jeff's death, his father, Greg, has been trying to piece together what happened.

GREG WAGGONER, father of U.S. Army Specialist Jeffrey Waggoner: I couldn't believe the amount of medications that was being prescribed to him.

AARON GLANTZ: After he left the hospital, Jeff went to a nearby motel.

GREG WAGGONER: He picked up a six-pack of beer. He checked into a room, has a couple beers, decides he's hungry. He goes next door to a restaurant, orders up a plate of nachos and another beer, and then becomes very groggy,

AARON GLANTZ: The surveillance footage shows what happened next. Jeff fumbles with the keys to his room, barely able to stand. He nods, then lurches forward and collapses.

Waggoner lay on the floor for an hour until the paramedics arrived. They tried to revive him, but it was too late. The state medical examiner concluded that, in addition to the two beers, Jeff consumed eight oxycodone pills, along with tranquilizers and muscle relaxants that he got from the VA.

Greg Waggoner has never watched the video. He believes the VA was complicit in his son's death.

cont at
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/july-dec13/veteransrx_12-07.html

 

[Neezer]

Of course they're going to prescribe them a fuck-ton of narcotics. I've read a couple articles whee it states that they're prescribing narcotic pain killers to soldiers who haven't suffered any kind of trauma/injury at all. It's sad, really. & if the VA sends a soldier to a detox clinic, that should be a clear sign that there's a serious problem. & the way they're facing these problems, is the worst way possible. Here, you're an addict who needs help, but instead of actually helping... here's some more oxy!

In fantasy land, that's what everybody wants, total access to their doc. But to actually treat someone that way is completely insane, especially when there's not actually an underlying issue of chronic pain. The mental health issues need to be treated with the proper [if any] meds. Just prescribing them a coma cocktail isn't going to fix anything or help anybody.

RIP to Waggoner.

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edit: I may be wrong, but wasn't this article posted on BL already? I've read it already, I just can't remember where.

 

[opi8]

Abruptly ceasing to prescribe oxycodone could also lead to suicide. 8 tablets is not a lot, it was possible he was prescribed 1 a day, even 2 a day. It's not like they gave him a kilo of heroin and a bag of fresh needles and told him to have at it.

 

[_DankOpiAmp_]

Alcohol taken, likely after a warning not to in combination with his prescriptions, along with taking extra pills was the cause of his death. His mental state was obviously not treated well but all these events do is make the doctors into sexual sadists instead of caring professionals when painkillers all needed.

 

[brutus]

I'm thankful that our troops are able to obtain medication if they truly need it instead of being treated like complete scum like others.