Drug-addict study released via FOIA request raises ethical questions

A 1994-95 research study, released in response to an FOIA request, indicates that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs gave heroin addicts regular doses of morphine and then cut the doses off to measure the effects, the Washington Examiner reported. The patients suffered 787 "adverse events"; however, no follow-up information is available on the study's subjects.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs spent at least $7.8 million in a secretive experiment to determine whether drug addicts become hyperactive when they suddenly lose access to morphine, documents obtained by The Examiner show.

The VA recruited 69 heroin addicts and began giving them regular doses of morphine. The scientists then cut off the morphine doses at intervals to see what would happen, internal reports show.

The decade-old study, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, offers the fullest picture yet of widespread government trials that gave hard-core drugs to addicts.

More here.

Medical Glitches at VA Hospitals ID'd by FOIA

Computer software glitches have exposed some patients at Veterans Affairs health centers to medical errors, including some in Wisconsin.

Documents obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act say patients were given incorrect doses of drugs, had treatments delayed and sometimes were given prolonged infusions of drugs such as heparin, which can be life-threatening in excessive doses.

There's no evidence any patients were harmed. But, the issue is more pressing as the federal government begins promoting universal use of electronic medical records.

Nearly one-third of the VA's 153 medical centers reported seeing some kind of glitch, although the VA said that number could be higher since some facilities may not have filed reports.

More here. And here.

No Public Interest in Iraq PTSD Cases? Really?!?

From the CREW website:

Today, CREW received a truly remarkable response from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to its FOIA request for documents relating to the VA’s abhorrent practice of under-diagnosing PTSD in veterans to save money. According to the VA, CREW is not entitled to a fee waiver -- meaning it has to pay for the costs of finding and copying responsive documents -- because there is no longer any public interest in this issue! Ignoring the wealth of news articles triggered by CREW’s and VoteVets.org’s release of an internal VA e-mail and the congressional hearing that release prompted, the VA claims that any records CREW requests “would not reveal anything new.”

We know what that means -- fee waiver or not, the VA has no intention of letting any more incriminating e-mails out of its clutches. Let’s hope there are more courageous VA employees willing to blow the whistle on what the VA is, and is not, doing for our veterans.

The VA also claimed it could not respond to the request as written because CREW failed to identify the specific VA offices and employees that would have responsive records. As CREW made clear in its response, we are committed to shining the brightest light possible on the VA’s treatment of veterans suffering from undiagnosed PTSD and we will not back down from these shameless excuses that the VA has offered.

More here.