U.S. Army Medical Corps retired Lt. Colonel John Hagmann (L) is seen being presented the William P. Clements, Jr. Outstanding Uniformed Educator Award by Dr. Sam Nixon (R) during the U.S. Military’s Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences 1989 Commencement Exercises. [handout]
Holy crap, this Reuters story by John Shiffman is bonkers.
Dr. John Henry Hagmann has trained thousands of soldiers and medical personnel on how to treat battlefield wounds, since he retired from the Army 15 years ago. The company Hagmann founded, Deployment Medicine International, got over $10.5 million in business from the federal government.
The taxpayer-funded training has long troubled animal rights activists, who contend that Hagmann’s use of live, wounded pigs to simulate combat injuries is unnecessarily cruel. But an investigation by Virginia medical authorities alleges that pigs weren’t the doctor’s only training subjects.
During instructional sessions in 2012 and 2013 for military personnel, Hagmann gave trainees drugs and liquor, and directed them to perform macabre medical procedures on one another, according to a report issued by the Virginia Board of Medicine, the state agency that oversees the conduct of doctors.
Hagmann, 59, is accused of inappropriately providing at least 10 students with the hypnotic drug ketamine. The report alleges Hagmann told students to insert catheters into the genitals of other trainees and that two intoxicated student were subjected to penile nerve block procedures. Hagmann also is accused of conducting “shock labs,” a process in which he withdrew blood from the students, monitored them for shock, and then transfused the blood back into their systems.
The report alleges that Hagmann also “exploited, for personal gain and sexual gratification” two participants who attended a July 2013 course at his Virginia farm.
REUTERS: “Exclusive: Doctor who trained U.S. troops suspended for macabre techniques”
[via @medinamora]
U.S. Army Medical Corps retired Lt. Colonel John Hagmann is seen in a 1980 handout file photo provided by his former employer, the U.S. Military’s Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. REUTERS/Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Handout via Reuters