Free Republic

MADISON, Wisconsin — As the nation celebrates its veterans and pays tribute to their sacrifices, it’s important to remember the promise made to America’s protectors has too often been broken. The headlines over the past few years in particular have screamed of neglect, ill-treatment and other abuses of too many veterans. That broken faith was no more apparent than in Wisconsin, at the Tomah Veterans Affairs Medical Center. While federal lawmakers have conducted a series of investigations into widespread over-prescription of opiates that led to the death of a 35-year-old Marine veteran at the facility and have pledged changes to...

MADISON, Wis. — Something was missing in U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s statement last week criticizing staff at the Tomah Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The Department Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General Office released a report finding psychiatrists at the facility failed to discuss the health hazards of synthetic opiates they prescribed to Marine Corps veteran Jason Simcakoski. The 35-year-old Simcakoski died in August 2014 after he was prescribed a fatal mixture of opiates and Valium, although the report did leave open the possibility Simcakoski could have taken additional doses. “This report confirms that the Tomah VA physicians entrusted with Jason’s...

The irony cannot be lost on U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin. Can it? The Madison Democrat, whose office dropped the ball on a report last year pointing to serious problems at the Tomah Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Tomah, fired off a press release Tuesday night nodding and saying ‘Amen’ to the initial findings of a review that reiterated what Baldwin’s folks have known for some time. “These initial findings substantiate the troubling concerns my office has heard from current and former employees and patients at the Tomah VA,” the senator said in the statement. “As the investigation builds on this...

Doctors at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs medical center in Tomah hand out so many narcotic painkillers that some veterans have taken to calling the place "Candy Land." They call the hospital's chief of staff, psychiatrist David Houlihan, the "Candy Man." Current and former hospital staff members describe patients who show up to appointments stoned on painkillers and muscle relaxants, doze off and drool during therapy sessions, and burn themselves with cigarettes. They told The Center for Investigative Reporting that Houlihan himself "doped up" or "zombified" their patients and that workers who raised questions have been punished. Data obtained...