White House pharmacies under the Trump administration violated federal rules by dispensing prescription pills, including stimulants and sedatives, to ineligible staffers without keeping adequate records, according to a scathing government report released this month.
“Severe and systemic problems” were found in “all phases of White House Medical Unit pharmacy operations,” the Defense Department’s Department of Inspector General said.
“Anything that happened at the White House Clinic was never written, never recorded,” said a witness interviewed for the 80-page DOD report. “The only record you ever have that a patient comes in and gets any kind of medication is if it’s a controlled substance that we have to document for the pharmacy.”
But even when dealing with controlled substances — drugs with the potential for abuse and physical dependence — the White House Medical Unit wrote prescriptions that “often lack medical provider and patient information mandated by [Drug Enforcement Agency] basic.”
“Severe and systemic problems” were found in “all phases of White House Medical Unit pharmacy operations,” according to the government report. White House Medical Unit The White House Medical Unit often improperly fills prescriptions for controlled drugs, such as Ambien and Provigil. White House Medical Unit
“The White House Medical Unit issued controlled non-emergency medications, such as Ambien and Provigil, without verifying the patient’s identity,” the report said, referring to sedatives used to treat insomnia and stimulants prescribed for narcolepsy and sleep apnea, respectively.
Request forms included in the inspector general’s report show White House pharmacies ordered thousands of these drugs, and routinely requested brand-name drugs even though regulations require pharmacies to stock cheaper generic equivalents.
Between 2017 and 2019, the White House Medical Unit spent an estimated $46,500 on brand-name Ambien, which is 174 times more expensive than the generic equivalent.
During the same three-year period, the unit also spent an estimated $98,000 on brand name Provigil, which is 55 times more expensive than the generic equivalent.
The watchdog agency concluded that White House pharmacy staff had little or no oversight, and that their prescribing practices put the health and safety of patients at risk.
A witness told the DOD IG that senior staff aides often came to pick up their pills. DoD OIG
A witness explained to investigators that part of their job at the “President’s clinic” was to pack controlled drugs in zip-lock bags before overseas trips, which would routinely be picked up by senior officer aides in violation of military guidelines.
“So we would usually do these packets of Ambien and Provigil, and often it would be in five tablets in a ziplock bag,” the witness said. “And traditionally, we’ll hand this over as well. . . . But often senior staff come or their staff representatives. . . will come to the residential clinic to pick it up. And it’s very, hey, I’m here to take this for Ms. X. And the expectation is that we go ahead and let it go.”
Another witness described an instance where drugs were given to White House officials as a “parting gift.”
“Dr. [X] asked if I could hook this person up with some Provigil as a parting gift for leaving the White House,” they said. “And at that time, the morticians and the medics, the registered morticians and the medics, [said] It’s okay for us to dispense Provigil and Ambien without a supplier present.”
“I’m not sure if it’s good as far as, like, what’s medically allowed. But in that unit, we are authorized to do such things,” the witness added.
The DOD IG report examined White House pharmacy practices from 2017-2019, when former President Donald Trump was in office. AFP/Getty Images The White House Medical Unit is providing “free medical care” to more eligible patients. Reuters
The investigation found that the White House Medical Unit provided “free medical care to ineligible White House Staff” by instituting “proxy health care” practices, which included dispensing controlled drugs to ineligible staff “in violation of Federal laws and regulations and policy DoD.”
About 6,000 White House employees, contractors and government employees receive “proxy health care” at White House clinics, according to the report.
By comparison, only about 60 patients were enrolled in the White House Medical Unit — which the report said was intended to “fulfill the needs” of only “the highest Presidential appointments.”
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
