In a federal courtroom in Madison, Wisconsin, last week, a judge accepted one of the largest Department of Veterans Affairs’ malpractice and wrongful death lawsuit settlements—totaling $2.3 million—with the family of Jason Simcakoski, the Marine Corps veteran who died from a barrage of 16 different opiates and other risky sedating drugs in August 2014 prescribed for him at the Tomah, Wisconsin, VA hospital. Newsweek recounted the tragedy in its recent cover story on how the VA fueled the nation’s opioid epidemic and killed thousands of veterans. Yet despite officials at various times admitting to the many failures at Tomah, the VA denies that its deadly overdrugging of Simcakoski and the staff delays in trying to resuscitate him—it took them 10 minutes to start CPR and nearly a half-hour to find a defibrillator in the hospital, according to a VA investigation—were in any way negligent. And though Simcakoski’s death was perhaps the best-known fatality linked to the VA’s recent wait-time and overmedication scandals, the VA delayed for nearly a year offering any meaningful response to the family’s complaint filed with the department, an administrative response that meant they had to go outside the VA to the federal courts last year to win a settlement.

Source: VA Settles Case of Vet Drugged to Death with $2.3 Million Payout, but Denies Negligence