Wisconsin senator probes drug overdoses at VA medical center

Republican U.S. Senator Ron Johnson requested information from a Milwaukee-based VA Medical Center after multiple veterans experienced drug overdoses, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

In a letter to VA secretary Robert A. McDonald, Senator Johnson commented on how easily "illegal drugs and other contraband" are transported into the facility.

His letter was in response a nonlethal heroin overdose in the Zablocki Residential Treatment Program of the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center. The letter does not mention the veteran's name.

This was the second recent overdose at the facility, although it did not result in the patient's death. Veteran Cole Schuler died of a heroin overdose at the facility in Nov. 2015.

After Mr. Schuler's death, an administrative investigation board made 16 recommendations to the medical center's policies to prevent illegal drugs from entering the facility, according to the report.

In his letter, Senator Johnson asked about the alleged security improvements, the renovated policy measures the medical center allegedly implemented and asked for an update about the VA investigation into Mr. Schuler's death.

A representative for the Zablocki VA told the Sentinel that the facility "has implemented a number of the changes [Senator] Johnson suggested."

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