One former pharmacy staff member told investigators that a doctor once asked if the staffer could “hook up” someone with a controlled substance “as a parting gift for leaving the White House.”

what a bro

The office dispensed controlled medications like Ambien and Provigil without verifying the patient’s identity.

hell yeah dude

It let people grab over-the-counter medicines from open bins.

this should be standard practice

upwards of $640,000 in taxpayer funds were wasted in just three years, though that number is fuzzy, because so many records were poorly kept and even handwritten.

waaaahhhhhh, half a million dollars went to giving people whatever drug they want. Under communism we’ll be able to snort Z class drugs whenever we want. /joking

White House medical staff also regularly asked for brand-name medications like Ambien and Provigil instead of the generics because “their patients prefer using the brand name drugs,” a practice that contradicted military policy. Those two drugs alone cost the government $144,520 over the period from 2017 to 2019, whereas the generics would have cost $2,064, according to the report.

smdh, these people don’t know the store brand soda and chips come from the same factory line.

The investigation also focused on improper record-keeping practices. The White House’s pharmacy did not keep records of controlled substances in accordance with federal law. For example, records detailing the receipt of fentanyl, ketamine, morphine, and Ambien at the White House’s pharmacy were handwritten, illegible, crossed-out, and error-filled, the report said.

Fentanyl

Fentanyl

Former White House Medical Unit medical providers told investigators that ineligible White House staff members received controlled substance prescriptions and free specialty care, including surgery, at military facilities. Even though the office was only supposed to cover care for 60 enrolled patients, the office instituted its own policy that effectively let any of the 6,000 people working in or around the White House seek health care services. Those were all inappropriately billed to the Defense Department.

Good actually, now expand it to the rest of us

Officials also offered aliases to executive branch VIPs for “enhanced privacy.” They would remove the patient’s actual name from the electronic medical record and use alternate demographic data and identifiers. Walter Reed eventually had to waive almost $500,000 in outpatient care fees for senior government officials from 2017-2019, partially because they were unable to bill patients who got this treatment.

I went in with the intent to only quote some parts for people allergic to reading articles, but this article fucking rules.

Staff and former staff also described a toxic culture in which they were not able to deny directives from senior leadership.

again, cry more. Welcome to working for a living you lanyard dipshits

Is stuff getting done? Yeah. Is it being done appropriately or legally all the time? No.

based

Military Health System officials were unable to identify which organization was responsible for overseeing the office, though it is governed by the rules of the Navy, according to the medical unit. But the Navy told investigators that it was not in charge; the Defense Health Agency, which coordinates care on behalf of the different branches of the military, and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center were. Walter Reed told investigators that it supplies the White House’s pharmacy, but that Walter Reed was not in charge of it. The Defense Health Agency admitted to investigators that the White House Medical Unit actually has “no clear line of oversight.”

Catch-22 lanyard edition

“A trained pharmacist would say, ‘OK, we need to document this. This isn’t Pez candy that we’re handing out like we’re a giant Pez dispenser.’”

shut up and dispense pills. Yes you are.

“It’s sort of head-scratching that you have the highest level of government conducting business in that manner that would never be acceptable anywhere else.”

O RLY?

The White House did not comment.