THE TRAGIC DEATH OF A MARINE VETERAN
A young, 23 year old Marine (Hunter Chase Whitley) was having difficulties with PTSD from the war. This was legit, not like former Solicitor Dan Johnson of Columbia, South Carolina who stole $44,000 from the taxpayers, a portion of which was from the National Guard.
The military decided Johnson deserved an Honorable Discharge so he could immediately file a claim to obtain a 100% disability rating from the VA for PTSD. Unlike Johnson, Hunter Whitley actually had war-induced PTSD.
This handsome young Marine was traumatized by the war and having difficulties coping with it. His biggest mistake was going to the VA. In the summer of 2022, he went into the VA located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama seeking help.
Hunter screened positive for a traumatic brain injury (TBI), PTSD, and depression. A licensed practical nurse documented “consult order entered” and alerted a primary care nurse practitioner.
That same day, the primary care nurse practitioner spoke with Hunter by phone regarding the patient’s positive depression and PTSD screens and the patient declined an offered walk-in mental health outpatient appointment.
Two weeks later, the patient (Hunter Whitley) sought help because he was having terrible difficulty sleeping. The primary care nurse practitioner entered a mental health outpatient consult.
Two days later, an administrative staff member documented that Hunter declined a community care referral and scheduled Hunter to meet with a mental health nurse practitioner (MHNP).
During the evaluation with the MHNP, Hunter Whitley reported “anger and irritability, anxiety, depression, flashbacks, intrusive thoughts, and poor sleep with nightmares.” During a “Brief Suicide Risk Assessment,” the patient denied feeling hopeless and thoughts of suicide.
The MHNP diagnosed Hunter Whitley with unspecified trauma – and stressor-related disorder and prescribed mirtazapine for depression and hydroxyzine for anxiety. If not monitored properly, these drugs could potentially make the situation worse… and they did.
The MHNP documented discussing medication effects, risks, and benefits with the patient and requested a follow-up appointment in two months.
The MHNP entered a trauma-focused therapy consult with a request for Hunter Whitley to be seen in one month, on day 76 since walking into the VA.
An administrative staff member scheduled Hunter for a PTSD evaluation appointment on day 98 and a medical support assistant (MSA) scheduled a follow-up appointment with the MHNP for day 162, almost four months later.
On day 53, pharmacy staff mailed the mirtazapine and hydroxyzine to Hunter Whitley. On day 98, in an evaluation for outpatient PTSD psychotherapy, the social worker diagnosed the patient with PTSD.
Hunter reported “passive suicidal thoughts without any plan or intent approximately two to three weeks ago” and denied current suicidal ideation. According to hospital staff, Hunter said he had access to a firearm and ammunition that were “stored in two separate locations.”
The social worker documented a plan for Hunter to “return to the [PTSD clinic] for individual therapy.” That same day, the patient completed PTSD and depression rating scales through text and electronic mail.
The depression rating scale indicated “moderately severe symptoms,” including thoughts of being “better off dead/hurting [your]self” several days over the prior two weeks.
One hundred and four days after walking into the VA asking for help, Hunter Whitley “was discovered deceased by a friend” from a firearm injury to the head.
COMMENT:
The VA OIG’s office conducted an investigation. It’s been our experience that military and VA OIG offices have a habit of not conducting adequate investigations in an effort to protect the organization.
This particular OIG appears to have done a fairly thorough job, but we say that cautiously because we’re always suspect of any report by the government on government activities. REF: OIG Report 23-02393-250, dated: September 26, 2024.
The VA OIG concluded the following…
- The mental health nurse practitioner (MHNP) failed to manage patient’s medication by failing to provide the patient info about increased risk of suicidal thoughts for people prescribed the drug “mirtazapine.”
- MHNP failed to obtain patient’s informed consent regarding boxed warning.
- MHNP failed to complete the C-SSRS as required by intake template. Failure to complete the C-SSRS may have contributed to an inadequate assessment of suicide risk.
- MHNP failed to adequately monitor patient after prescribing the drug “mirtazapine.”
- MHNP’s failure to monitor patient after initiating mirtazapine prevented timely evaluation of worsening symptoms that included suicidal thoughts and behaviors.
- The medical support assistant (MSA) staff failed to initiate scheduling of follow-up appointments within two business days, then scheduled patient two months later than requested return to clinic (RTC) date and four months after initial visit. This follow-up delay prevented assessments and treatments which could have mitigated patient’s suicide risk.
- OIG substantiated the social worker failed to sufficiently assess suicide risk, failed safety counseling and failed to consult with patient’s prescriber.
- Social worker failed to notify MHNP about patient’s worsening depression.
- Supervisory social worker provided inadequate oversight of social worker who was hired six weeks prior to conducting patient’s PTSD evaluation.
- Staff failed to submit a consult for a traumatic brain injury (TBI) evaluation following patient’s positive TBI screen as is required.
- Primary care nurse practitioner failed to ensure that a consult was submitted due to a lack of knowledge about providers’ responsibilities.
- The suicide prevention coordinator failed to complete the required BHAP FIT-C form after notification of the patient’s death.
The bottom line is that, Hunter Whitley would probably be alive today if he had not gone into the VA asking for help. The powerful drugs prescribed by the VA drove him deeper into depression until he apparently decided to take his own life.
THE VETERANS ADMINISTRATION COMPLETELY FAILED HUNTER WHITLEY
AND ALL THOSE WHO LOVED HIM.
What some might call an “oversight” or simply “poor judgement,” we label as potentially criminal negligence.
In order to establish a prima facie case for negligence, the following elements must be proved in a court of law…
- The existence of a duty on the part of the defendant to conform to a specific standard of conduct for the protection of the victim against an unreasonable risk of injury or death.
- One must prove a breach of that duty by the defendant.
- And, that breach-of-duty was the actual and proximate cause of the victim’s injury or death.
- And finally, there must be damage or harm to the victim’s person or property.
The defense of; “it wasn’t our fault, the man took his own life” just doesn’t cut it.
If an individual is led down a dangerous path with powerful prescribed drugs that exacerbated his depression, and then failed to monitor his worsening condition, culpable parties must be held to account for their simple, gross or wanton negligence.
And once again, like most people who work for the government, no one to our knowledge has ever been held accountable for the multitude of failures which resulted in the death of this young Marine.
A very interesting audio podcast was sent to us about a proposed law heading to Congress in the name of this fallen Marine: LISTEN TO PODCAST HERE.
Hunter’s mother has told us her side of the story which we will publish in a follow-up article. Her information won’t be found in any VA OIG report.
DON JUAN NOW STALKING PEOPLE AT THE
JOHNSON CITY, TENNESSEE VA MEDICAL CENTER
Congressional investigations into sexual misconduct at the Mountain Home VA Medical Center which is located in Johnson City, Tennessee have allegedly led to the resignation of several top VA officials as investigators discovered widespread sexual misconduct among employees.
Mountain Home VA is part of the VA Mid-South Healthcare Network (VISN-9) (VISN=Veterans Integrated Service Network).
In clearer terms, a bunch of VA executives were getting their “knobs polished” when they should have been working.
At least twelve officials reportedly had sex orgies on the Mountain Home VA Medical Center’s property. At this point only two employees admitted to having sex on the VA hospital property.
Congressional investigators discovered that one particular individual who is alleged to have been a bargaining unit biomedical employee, had dozens of sexual relationships with women who worked at the Mountain Home VA medical center in Tennessee.
In fact, congressional investigators say this one man slept with no fewer than thirty-two (32) different women who worked there—and the man and several of the women bragged about their exploits on an online group forum on a government communication portal.
This admission of impropriety comes after Representative Mike Bost (R-Ill.) fired off an August 9, 2024 letter to outgoing Secretary Denis McDonough, demanding information regarding “allegations of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and improper interpersonal relationships” at the VA hospital in Johnson City, Tennessee.
COMMENT:
So, some VA employee, probably a GS-15 or above, allegedly screwed 32 women who were fellow employees at the VA.
Hell, that’s nothing! Former basketball star Wilt Chamberlain claimed in his book, “A View from Above,” that he had sex with 20,000 women.
Aside from the sheer number of women involved is the fact that Wilt Chamberlain probably had sex in offices, locker rooms, basket ball courts and maybe his posh residences. Chamberlain wasn’t being paid by the Veterans Administration to provide health services to aging veterans while these sexual hookups were occurring.
We still don’t know how many women were screwed on the Army’s famous Washington D.C. love boats. We’re still working on that story.
The VA claims people resigned, but the truth is the VA does what the National Guard Bureau does when an officer gets into trouble dicking-down someone’s wife… they just transfer that individual to another unit.
In the VA’s case, they transfer those people to other VA hospitals throughout the nation. We’ve seen it happen more than once.
Since these people probably won’t get a pardon from Joe Biden like everyone else is, they have to transfer to a new location so they can start up their mischievous behavior all over again.
No one is ever held accountable. We still wonder how many women and men Captain Jose Moreno has had a sexual relationships both in and out of the National Guard.
More on Jane Doe’s quest to obtain any sliver of justice at all will be continued in Article XI. MilitaryCorruption.com staff is currently working on. Many new developments while the Army continues to dig their hole even deeper going after the victim instead of the perpetrators.
We are also keeping our eye on The Dorn VA Medical Center and the VBA division there in Columbia, South Carolina. We still want to know why in the world is VA bureaucrat Woody Middleton is still employed with the Veterans Administration.
We are keeping a very close eye on Woody Middleton and all other dubious characters with offices located at the Dorn VA Medical Center. People who do not serve the veterans properly must be removed.
There are 1,293 medical centers and clinics allegedly “managed” by the Veterans Administration. We are betting that each one of them has a story to tell.
We are working on an article about the massive corruption going on at the Charlie Norwood Medical Center in Augusta, GA. The reports we are receiving are very sad indeed. Look for MilitaryCorruption.com to do what we do best… Fight for the Truth and Expose the Corrupt.
While MilitaryCorruption.com gives a higher priority to exposing corruption in the active duty military, we are also interested in any information about criminal or unethical misconduct going on anywhere in the Veterans Administration.
Do not hesitate to contact us with any first-hand knowledge of malfeasance. Your identity shall be protected.
The new VA Secretary Doug Collins will have his hands full just trying to clean up the VA mess he will be inheriting. We wish we could be there to help him.
Hey Secretary-elect Collins, would you entertain an office for MilitaryCorruption.com at VA Headquarters where we could answer directly to you on matters of VA misconduct?
We will discover the information, then provide you with any hard evidence. Then, you could cut loose your OIG offices. We will help you hold them accountable also.
We could work together to clean up the VA for the betterment of all American Veterans. The first problem to address is the dismissal of GS-15 employees and above. Apparently, many feel they are above the law and are immune from accountability.
That has got to change.
IMPORTANT:
If anyone referred to in this article feels they have been wrongfully characterized or maligned in any way whatsoever, we want to hear from you. We have no interest in publishing anything untruthful or misleading.
Our mission has been clear from the beginning, we only want to “Fight for the Truth and Expose the Corrupt.” We do this in the hope that we can fix what is broken. Frequently, truth is elusive. We do our best to vet people, but we don’t have the badges, guns and subpoena power the military has to find the truth.
Sadly, the military tends to use their police power to suppress the truth in order to deceive Congress and the American people.
We therefore, rely on our readers to contact us to set the record straight. With your help, we can find the truth and make our military strong and credible. We believe in “Peace Through Strength,” but we only get our strength from our integrity.
If you are on active duty in the United States military and desire to blow the whistle on malfeasance, we caution you. It’s highly recommended that you to first get out of the service before you become a whistleblower. Use your time in the service to gather evidence of the corruption you wish to report. Evidence could be photos, documents, video, etc.
Remember, the entire military judicial system is designed to favor the government. Brass hats will not hesitate to manipulate the judicial system they control to neutralize and ruin you.
If you have not broken any law or regulation, they tend to fall back on their administrative powers which Congress handed to them in order to destroy you. If you are smart, you will be quiet as a church mouse while on active duty, then contact us the moment you have received your DD-214.
That’s right, we are telling you the smart play is to go-along-to-get-along until you are completely separated from the service.
If you feel the corruption is so severe and needs to be addressed immediately, we are listening and guarantee confidentiality. But for God sakes, don’t give us any information that can lead back to you. We know from decades of experience just how vindictive the military can get.
Keep the faith and know that we are doing our best to protect our military members who just want the system to work correctly.
