WASHINGTON – A recent report from the Defense Department’s inspector general alleges that President Trump’s internal health clinic violated the law by offering an array of healthcare and pharmaceutical services to ineligible White House staff. The investigation, initiated in 2018 following complaints about improper medical practices, involved interviews with more than 120 officials, including hospital administrators, military medical providers, and pharmacists, in addition to on-site visits and the scrutiny of numerous documents.
“We concluded that all phases of the White House Medical Unit’s pharmacy operations had severe and systemic problems,” the report reads.
Notably, medications, including controlled substances like fentanyl, were dispensed to individuals who were not eligible for such services. The medical unit ordered significant quantities of drugs, including four separate orders of fentanyl, two orders of morphine and two orders of ketamine during the first nine months of 2019.
Compounding the problem, controlled medications such as Ambien and Provigil were distributed without verifying the patient’s identity. A witness even revealed that “Dr. [X] asked if I could hook up this person with some Provigil as a parting gift for leaving the White House … in the unit, it was authorized for us to do that kind of stuff.”
Furthermore, the report highlights a failure to segregate records for Schedule II drugs, such as fentanyl and oxycodone, from records for other medications, as required by federal regulations.
“Additionally, the White House Medical Unit did not implement pharmaceutical management processes to deter the risk of diversion,” the report reads. “DEA registrants must ensure the adequacy of the system for monitoring the receipt, distribution, and disposition of controlled substances in its operations.”
Because of the unit’s practices, multiple former White House Medical Unit providers requested an early departure from the unit.
In response, the Pentagon IG’s office is recommending a series of policy changes.
“We recommend that the Director of the Defense Health Agency, in coordination with the White House Medical Unit Director, develop policy and procedures to manage controlled and non‑controlled medications, including, at a minimum, procurement, storage and inventory, prescribing and dispensing, and disposal,” the report stated.