Is VA Involved in 'Pay for Play' With FDA & Big Pharma?

Our military heroes are victims of death and addiction.

Courtesy: U.S. Army

(MYRTLE BEACH, SC) - In my last article I wrote about the rise in prescriptions of painkillers by the Veterans Administration (VA) providers in the last 12 years -- a whooping 270%. Think our military heroes have more of a problem than fighting in the battlefields? They do -- and its massive amounts of painkillers being prescribed to them for the treatment of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with opioids -- such as OxyContin. Our heroes are being killed at home by the Veterans Administration medical professionals. How? Read on.

I will be focusing this week on Robert D. Kerns, PhD and his part in opioid prescribing for PTSD while working for the VA to our military. Dr. Kerns is the National Program Director for Pain Management at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Dr. Kerns is not an MD (medical doctor) but rather a PhD -- but is very involved in the policy of prescribing painkillers to our military heroes. His primary area of scholarly and academic interest is in the fields of behavioral medicine and health psychology, with a more specific interest and expertise in the area of pain and pain management -- and he is not a medical doctor. Again, why the rise of 270% in the prescribing of painkillers to our military heroes? And is the Veterans Administration involved in a "Pay to Play" with the FDA and the pharmaceutical industry to push painkillers for long term use?

The Wall Street Journal recently did an article on a "Mr. Fazio" who left the Veterans Administration as a patient and was given 168 pills -- painkillers.  These were the same pills, or painkillers, he was hospitalized at the V.A. for which caused his addiction.  Mr. Fazio was given another 168  painkillers a couple of days after his discharge from the V.A.  Link to The Wall Street Journal article http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304672404579181840055583388

A study by a Veterans Administration researcher found that veterans with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were nearly twice as likely to be prescribed opioids as those without mental-health problems. According to The Wall Street Journal, in Mr. Fazio's case, between 2008 and 2011 the VA prescribed him more than 3,600 pills containing oxycodone (OxyContin), a narcotic painkiller compared to heroin and morphine. He overdosed a total of six times.

"It is of great concern within the VA to try to reduce the risk of harm for veterans with chronic pain who are prescribed opioids and to potentially provide for increasing alternatives," said Robert Kerns, the Veterans Administration's director of pain management. The same "Dr. Kerns" who is a PhD and not an M.D. - but yet has the prestigious title of "Director of Pain Management" while employed by the V.A. What are the alternatives you recommend Dr. Kerns, PhD?

The reason I am so interested in the explosive rate of opioids prescribed by the V.A. to our military is in part based on an Ohio attorney who has obtained emails that show that pharmaceutical companies have been paying tens of thousands of dollars to attend meetings of a panel of academics and health industry regulators that advise the Food and Drug Administration on its drug policies for painkillers, according to multiple news reports -- which has been named "Pay to Play."

Two medical professors, Robert Dworkin of the University of Rochester and Dennis Turk of the University of Washington, set up a panel known by the acronym IMMPACT to advise the FDA on how to test the safety and effectiveness of painkillers - a $9 billion market in the United States. Pharmaceutical companies paid huge sums that could go as high as $35,000 to fund and attend meetings of the panel, the emails show. The professors collected as much as $50,000 each, which they would use to fund academic research accounts, research assistants and expenses, among other things.

• Veterans dying from overmedication

 

Below is information on the American Chronic Pain Association -- that ironically is not under U.S. Senate investigation for the over-prescribing of painkillers in the U.S.  The Senate may want to reconsider this oversight and also consider the phrase "pay to play" as relates to the American Chronic Pain Association and look into their part in the opioid prescribing epidemic in all 50 states -- especially when they see who serves on the Board of Directors of the American Chronic Pain Association and their link to the Veterans Administration.

 

  

Advisory Board

Members of our advisory board share their knowledge about pain issues with us and help us reach many of the people who can benefit from our programs. We are grateful for their support and the insights they bring to enrich our services. 

 

Dennis Turk, Ph.D.  (University of Washington) Chairman and serves on the Board of Directors Dr. Turk has been active for many years in national and international organizations and is past president of the American Pain Society (under Senate investigation). He was a member of the Council of the International Association for the Study of Pain for six years, and he is a special government employee (advisor) to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research and the Center for Devices and Radiological Health).-- conflict of interest?

Robert D. Kerns, Ph.D.  (Veterans Administration) VA Connecticut Healthcare System West Haven, Connecticut

 

Robert H. Dworkin, Ph.D.  (University of Rochester) Professor of Anesthesiology, Neurology, Oncology, and Psychiatry and Director of the Anesthesiology Clinical Research Center, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry J. David Haddox, DDS, M.D., DABPM  (Purdue Pharma under US Senate investigation) Purdue Pharma, Vice President Risk Management and Health Policy

Rollin M. "Mac" Gallagher, MD, MPH