The White House Medical Unit improperly distributed prescription and over-the-counter drugs during the Trump administration, according to a report released earlier this month.
The White House Medical Unit had “serious and systemic problems” with its pharmaceutical operations, according to the report from the US Department of Defense’s Office of Inspector General.
The unit stored and distributed controlled substances without sufficient recordkeeping and occasionally to personnel who were legally ineligible to receive them, according to the report. The unit, which includes several clinics in the Washington area and overseen by the Department of Defense, also misused department funds by distributing brand-name drugs instead of generic equivalents.
In doing so, employees raised “the risk of diversion of controlled substances,” the report added.
“Without the oversight of qualified pharmaceutical staff, the White House Medical Unit’s pharmaceutical management practices may have been subject to prescribing errors and inadequate medication management, thereby increasing health risk and the safety of patients treated within the unit,” the report states.
Other alleged problems include violating federal regulations that require records of Schedule II drugs to be kept separate from other drugs, according to the report. Instead, records for Schedule II drugs like fentanyl, morphine, hydrocodone, and oxycodone were kept in the same inventory as any other drug.
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No pharmacist on staff to supervise handling errors
Many of the mismanaged medications and records were because officials did not view their operations as a pharmacy, the report concludes. The medications were stored and distributed behind a door that said “pharmacy,” and pill bottles bearing the unit logo contained the medications.
The report adds that there is no pharmacist on staff at the medical unit. Staff testified that the unit requested a pharmacy technician, but said that request was never made at the time of the investigation.
Inadequate drug distribution could be due to lack of pharmacy oversight. Staff members interviewed were unable to explain which division was in charge of the medical unit, the report added.
Unit only provided drug history of Trump presidency
To catalog all medications ordered by the White House Medical Unit, investigators requested data from the unit, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and the National Capital Region Medical Directorate.
In 2019, investigators asked the medical unit for data from the previous five years, but only received data from 2017 to 2019 because the medical unit said it only kept records for two years.
Investigators also only received 2017 to 2019 data from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and 2018 to 2020 data from the National Capital Region Medical Directorate due to similar policies.
The multi-year survey included interviews with more than 120 leaders from hospital administrators, military medical providers and pharmacists. Investigators also evaluated the transcripts of former employees of the White House military office between 2009 and 2018.
“We found that the White House Medical Unit maintained historical patient eligibility practices that did not follow DoD guidance,” the report said. “A former medical provider to the White House medical unit said the unit worked “in the gray…helping anyone who needed help to accomplish this mission.”
Investigation triggered by complaints from a senior official
The investigation was triggered in May 2018 by complaints about the Republican representative. Ronny Jackson, who currently represents Texas’ 13th congressional district. He served as a White House physician under former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump. The congressman, who was not named in the report, worked as director of the White House medical unit from 2010 to 2014.
USA TODAY has contacted Jackson for comment.
In March 2018, Jackson stepped down from his role as physician to the president when Trump nominated him to head the Department of Veterans Affairs. However, he later withdrew his candidacy for the position after the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee interviewed his current and former colleagues, some of whom claimed that Jackson led a hostile work environment who mishandled medication prescriptions.
In February 2019, he became Trump’s chief medical advisor.
