Question:
2017 Panama City News Harald article
Mr. Strickland, I am writing you to express my disdain for your comments in the 2017 Panama City News Herald article by Collin Breaux. Your comments defy logic and lack any rational basis. You seem to have no knowledge of the subject matter and your comments are totally devoid of any sound legal opinion. You hold yourself out as an expert looking out for the interest of veterans but in this instance you have completely missed the mark with your personal belief that the VA is just hunting drug abuse and that fishing exercise trumps Mr. Williams personal rights. Mr. Williams rightfully took issue with the VA and it’s provider performing a urine drug screen without his knowledge. First of all, the VA patient bill of rights strictly prohibits the performance of a diagnostic or therapeutic procedure or course of treatment without the patient or the patient’s surrogate providing informed consent. In fact, within the VA, “all treatment and procedures require the prior, voluntary informed consent of the patient, or if the patient lacks decision-making capacity, the patient’s authorized surrogate.” In this case oral consent suffices. VA policy rejects the concept of “’general’ or ‘blanket’ consent for medical treatment.” You stated, “ doctors try to treat drug abuse as a healthcare problem.” Your logic is flawed, Nothing indicated Mr. Williams had of has a drug problem. The medication, Testosterone has nothing to do with the drugs being tested for on a urine drug screen. Remember Mr. Williams urine drug screen was negative for illicit drugs. You, as an advocate, should be asking what medically relevant results will the ordered test yield regarding Mr. Williams healthcare. That would be none. There is no clinical correlation between the urine drug screen and the results that can be gained and the medication Mr. Williams was prescribed. As an advocate your opinion and bias should be left behind. If the VA can order a test that has no medical relevance, what stops them from ordering any other test or procedure they wish regardless of the medical necessity or the veteran’s wishes. Mr. Strickland if you cannot see the slippery slope cases like these create and devest yourself of your biases please refrain from proffering your opinion in matters regarding VA patient care. You have done yourself, Mr. Williams and future veterans that run contrary to the tyranny of a VA provider a disservice to our community.
Jim's Reply:
Thanks for the feedback. I'm really impressed that someone is reading the work that Collin and I produced almost 2 years ago. I'll be sure to let him know! Since that much time has passed I think what's happened further proves my point.More Americans are dying of opioid overdoses than any other cause and veterans continue to battle with narcotic addiction. Those are hard, cold facts and nothing you can say will change that. Rather than pretending the problem doesn't exist and hiding our heads in the sand, we need a national effort to stop the slaughter of veterans who are being given the drugs they're dying from. While you rant about your "personal rights, " my brothers and sisters are dying and you have nothing to offer them in the way of help but a paranoid statement about VA. I stand by my previous work and repeat it today...drug screening is as vital to our health as screening for liver disease or kidney disease. Substance abuse is a health problem, not a political issue or moral issue, and won't be fixed until we see it that way. Your demonizing it won't help.