Those allegations against Dr. John Henry Hagmann are contained in a report issued by the Virginia Board of Medicine, the state agency that oversees the conduct of doctors. A copy of the report was reviewed by Reuters.
After retiring in 2000 following an influential, 20-year career in the Army, Hagmann founded Deployment Medicine Consultants (DMI), a trauma-response training firm. DMI has received more than $10.5 million from federal government contracts, Reuters reported.
The report alleges that during instructional sessions in 2012 and 2013 with military personnel, Hagmann, now 59, provided students with shots of rum and the hypnotic drug ketamine, Reuters reported. He allegedly told students to insert catheters into the genitals of other trainees, while two other intoxicated students were subjected to penile nerve block procedures.
Hagmann is also 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, per the report.
The report states that Hagmann also "exploited, for personal gain and sexual gratification" two participants who attended a July 2013 course at his Virginia farm.
The Virginia Board of Medicine suspended Hagmann's license in March, and it could be revoked following a hearing about the allegations scheduled for later this month.
In a statement Hagmann provided on Friday to Reuters, he said: "The mechanisms and protocols utilized in the training all comply with standard practices for training medical students and are, in fact, utilized in medical schools in Virginia."
Hagmann, who has used live, wounded pigs to simulate combat injuries, also told Reuters that the allegations are amplified by "animal rights advocates or those with an anti-military agenda."
He denied accusations of sexual misconduct and said there was no evidence for such allegations.
In another case, Virginia authorities accuse Hagmann of drinking beer with a student before asking him about the effect the student's uncircumcised penis had on masturbation and sex, the report states. The student told investigators "that he was inebriated and felt that he could not refuse Dr. Hagmann's request … to examine, manipulate and photograph his penis."
An investigation was launched after a student filed a complaint in July 2013 with the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU), a government-run medical school that contracted with Hagmann's company, DMI.
Hagmann told Reuters that USU approved all of his procedures and training, but a school spokeswoman denied that, adding that USU forwarded the results of its own investigation to the Virginia Medical Board.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has long complained to the Pentagon about DMI's use of wounded, live animals in training and tried to get the practice banned.
On Monday, PETA sent to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter an undercover video showing pigs being shot and cut open. The group says it took the video during a 2013 training session by Hagmann’s company, Reuters reported.
Congressman Hank Johnson, who has introduced a bill to ban live-tissue training, said he was disturbed by the video and charges brought against Hagmann by the Virginia Board of Medicine.
"It seems like this is a renegade contractor visiting abuse on military personnel and live animals," Johnson was quoted as saying by Reuters. "It's mind-boggling. It's like a diabolical mad scientist at work in a horror movie."
