Doctors, nurses or pharmacy employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs’ hospitals were disciplined in only a small fraction of thousands of reported cases of opioid theft and missing prescriptions since 2010.
That’s according to government data obtained by The Associated Press.
About 372 VA employees were dismissed, suspended or reprimanded for a drug or alcohol-related issue across a network of more than 160 medical centers and 1,000 clinics over the last six years. During that time, there were over 11,000 reported incidences of drug loss or theft at federal hospitals.
That means VA employees were disciplined in roughly 3 percent of cases.
Disciplined employees had failed a drug test or were suspected of stealing drugs, among other offenses.