Veteran died in motel room hours after VA discharge

For some wounded veterans, strong prescription drugs can be cause of more pain
PBS News Hour
December 7, 2013

Transcript
GWEN IFILL: Next: a troubling account of the consequences of overprescribing addictive painkillers to veterans.

The death rate from overdoses of those drugs at Veterans Affairs hospitals is twice the national average. But data shows the VA continues to prescribe increasing amounts of narcotic painkillers to many patients.

Our story comes from the Center for Investigative Reporting.

The correspondent is Aaron Glantz.

AARON GLANTZ: U.S. Army Specialist Jeffrey Waggoner received a funeral with full military honors. He was medically evacuated out of Afghanistan in 2007 after he sustained a groin injury when a rocket-propelled grenade exploded during a house-to-house search.

But that's not what killed him. Waggoner survived his deployment. He died back home in this motel, just hours after being discharged from a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Oregon. While recovering from his wounds, Waggoner's mental state deteriorated. He became addicted to painkillers. And the Army sent him to the detox center at this VA hospital in Roseburg to get clean.
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