Doctor sanctioned for ‘abhorrent’ troop training

Richmond — A Virginia state board has revoked the licence of a former US Army doctor, finding that he plied students with hypnotic drugs during battlefield-trauma training and performed dangerous procedures, including intentionally inducing shock. The doctor, John Henry Hagmann, was cited for training he provided in 2012 and 2013 in Virginia, North Carolina, Colorado and Great Britain. Students testified that Hagmann had also performed penile nerve blocks and instructed them to insert catheters into one another’s genitals.

“The evidence is so overwhelming and so bizarre as to almost shock the conscience of a prosecutor who’s been doing this for 26 years,” assistant attorney-general Frank Pedrotty told the Virginia Board of Medicine.

Two students provided the board with pictures of chest scars they received when procedures went awry. Three students testified that others became violently ill or began hallucinating after Hagmann gave them ketamine. — Reuters