Are our Veterans hooked? Senator to VA: End mindless narcotics prescriptions now

2015-06-16T09:38:42-04:00

Jason Simcakoski is one of countless post-9/11 veterans under VA care who have died by accidental overdose since at least 2005. The families of former Marine Sgt. Rob Richards, Senior Airman Anthony Mena, Marine Gunnery Sgt. Christopher Bachus, Marine Cpl. Nicholas Endicott, Marine Cpl. Andrew White and others share the inescapable memory of either finding their loved one deceased or of receiving a devastating phone call.

http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/benefits/veterans/2015/06/16/tammy-baldwin-legislation-protect-veterans-from-overprescribing-opioids/71262276/

Senator to VA: End mindless narcotics prescriptions now

In the days leading to his death, former Marine Cpl. Marine Jason Simcakoski sent a text from the in-patient psychiatric ward at the Tomah,

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 16 at 2015 9:41 AM

2015-06-16T09:41:08-04:00

It seems to be the general response: put him on something & if that doesn't work, try it again for a couple times. Then we'll address the bigger picture. They need to treat the disease, not the symptoms!

Response by PO1 John Miller made Jun 16 at 2015 10:58 AM

2015-06-16T10:58:37-04:00

Why is it that it takes people dying for the VA to realize that there's a problem needing to be fixed?

Response by Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS made Jun 16 at 2015 4:34 PM

2015-06-16T16:34:51-04:00

Pure conjecture.

Pharmaceuticals are the most "efficient" means of "clearing the backlog" and when you are trying to unbury yourself, all you care about is getting out from under the mountain. If you can make a reasonable guess and get someone out of your office in a few minutes and do Quantity > Quality, the decision seems obvious.

I can't actually blame the VA on this one, no matter how I want to. If the VA dedicates Quality time, they can't do Quantity, and we lose folks. If they focus on Quantity over Quality, we lose folks. They're damned if they do, damned if they don't.

The problem we have now is that they are over-medicating with addicting substances, but they are "trying" and damn it, as much as I hate to be on the Departments side... this is a resource (human = doctor) issue created above them causing a trickle down effect.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Jun 16 at 2015 5:35 PM

2015-06-16T17:35:51-04:00

It is true that many troopers need to be detoxed.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 16 at 2017 8:40 AM

2017-12-16T08:40:55-05:00

If anyone is looking for a basic overview of opioids, please take a look at this article that we put out--it also has a solid list of resources at the end as well. http://prismhealthadvocates.com/opioid-epidemic-creation-addiction-treatment-rehabilitation/

The Opioid Epidemic: A Look at Opioid Creation, Addiction, Treatment and Rehabilitation - Prism

Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental deaths in the United States. Synthetic opioids such as Heroine play a major factor in these cases.

Response by SGM Bill Frazer made Dec 16 at 2017 1:02 PM

2017-12-16T13:02:22-05:00

To a great extent Yes. 1.VA does not do Tier 1 drugs, when I went from a private Dr to VA, my prescriptions went from 3 to 8. 2.The Sand Kids are leaving the VA with quite truthfully a large gift bag of prescriptions. 3. When the VA started treating my PTSD and Major Depression I had to literally fight my doctors to start at the lowest dosage of the lowest level drug available to the VA. 4. Many of the prescriptions are issued by more than 1 Doctor, and they do not always talk to each other, particularly when your primary sees you maybe every 6 months, and you may see the mental health every 4-6 weeks.