Veteran daughter dies from fentanyl after treatment delays: Mom
- Soldier died from accidental overdose after military failed to treat her pain
- Mother demands Army provide owed benefits to soldier's young daughters
- 330 service members died from overdoses 2016-2021 amid opioid crisis
Testing widget old system
(NewsNation) — The mother of a U.S. Army soldier who died from an accidental overdose after taking a pain pill laced with fentanyl is demanding the military provide her granddaughters with owed survivor benefits nearly a year after the tragedy.
Shannon Laudermilk’s daughter, Holly Eakins, joined the Army at 21 to provide a better life for her two young daughters, ages 5 and 3. Eakins sustained a serious knee injury during training that left her in chronic pain.
Laudermilk said Sunday on “NewsNation Prime” the military failed to properly treat her daughter’s pain or approve her for needed surgery due to bureaucratic red tape.
“Instead of giving her appropriate pain medication, she was given the idea of just taking Tylenol,” Laudermilk said. “She was in so much pain that she finally just thought (to have) pain medication off the street because she couldn’t get it elsewhere and she couldn’t get the surgery.”
Eakins, whose death was ruled accidental, is among 330 U.S. service members who died from overdoses between 2016 and 2021 amid the nation’s opioid epidemic, according to Pentagon data. Studies show opioid prescriptions quadrupled among veterans from 2001 to 2009.
Laudermilk said the Army has not provided her with the required line of duty report to allow her granddaughters to receive entitled benefits like healthcare coverage from the VA.
“All this is doing is holding up the benefits from the VA for my grandchildren,” she said.
