'Improper medical practices': White House pharmacy was a 'hot mess' during Trump’s presidency

On January 8, the U.S. Defense Department's Office of the Inspector General (DoD OIG) released an in-depth report on the White House pharmacy. The report is 80 pages long and takes a close look at the pharmacy's condition during Donald Trump's four years in the White House.

The report, Ars Technica's Beth Mole emphasizes in an article published on January 23, shows that the pharmacy suffered major problems under Trump.

"The White House has its own pharmacy that, until recently, could perhaps best be described as a hot mess, according to a recent investigation report from the Department of Defense's Office of the Inspector General," Mole explains. "For years, the White House Medical Unit, run by the White House Military Office, provided the full scope of pharmaceutical services to senior officials and staff — it stored, inventoried, prescribed, dispensed, and disposed of prescription medications, including opioids and sleep medications."

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Mole adds, "However, it was not staffed by a licensed pharmacist or pharmacy support staff. Nor was it credentialed by any outside agency."

The DoD OIG's investigation, Mole notes, "was prompted by complaints in May 2018 alleging that an unnamed 'senior military medical officer' was engaged in 'improper medical practices.'"

The probe, Mole adds, "included 70 interviews of military office officials who worked in the White House between 2009 and 2018 and covers the office's activity until early 2020."

"However, the investigation heavily focused on prescription drug records and care between 2017 and 2019 during the Trump Administration," Mole points out. "During that time, staff at the White House pharmacy kept handwritten records of prescriptions, the OIG found. The records frequently contained errors in medication counts, illegible text, crossed-out text, and lacked medical provider and mandatory patient information."

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Mole continues, "The pharmacy let White House staff pick up over-the-counter drugs from open bins, in violation of Navy medical regulations. It didn't dispose of controlled substances properly, increasing the risk of diversion. Staff provided prescriptions without verifying patients' identities, and provided prescriptions to people who were ineligible for care. And it dispensed pricey brand name products freely, rather than generic equivalents that are considerably cheaper — also a violation of regulations."

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Read Ars Technica's full article at this link.