Drug thefts at VA hospitals are still at epidemic levels

Drug thefts at VA hospitals are still at epidemic levels
by Jazz Shaw
We always knew that the VA scandal was going to take a long time to clean up (assuming that’s even possible) but precisely how long should the public be willing to wait? While wait times have decreased overall (significantly in some cases) and we’re seeing a bit more transparency, other problems remain pervasive. One of these is the issue of drug theft at VA hospitals.

This story has been coming to a head for a while now. In early February, three workers at a VA hospital in Arkansas were charged with stealing Oxycodone, Hyrocodone and Viagra and selling the drugs on the black market. In Baltimore, a worker infected with Hepatitis C confessed to taking syringes of painkillers intended for veterans going into surgery, shooting up the drugs himself and refilling them with saline solution which was then administered to the veteran. This resulted in the patients not only getting the painkillers required for surgery, but in at least one case contracting Hepatitis from the thief.

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