WASHINGTON — Rear Adm. Brian Monahan, the doctor who has looked after members of Congress and Supreme Court justices since 2009, has resigned, U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal.
The resignation landed the same day the Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General released its findings on his office. Investigators warned of “health and safety risks” and said the office lacked proper measures to oversee the care it provided, including pharmacy operations and medication inventories.
Monahan, a two-star Navy admiral, faces allegations of running a toxic work environment, according to the officials. They also cited dispensing medications to lawmakers and their staff without prescriptions, and a lack of oversight of controlled substances.
What the inspectors found
In February 2026, a Controlled Substance Inventory Board checked the office pharmacy. It found discrepancies in the inventories of five controlled substances, including opioid pain medication.
Navy medical personnel told investigators that office staff only “loosely” follow naval pharmacy guidelines. The inspector general could not validate that the pharmacy had undergone regular, mandatory inspections, or that it had completed the inventories it was required to do.
The report, released in a heavily redacted public version, found a “gap in clinical quality management.” Some prescription drugs, including sleep aids and pain medication, were not properly inventoried or tracked.
“result in OAP beneficiaries unknowingly assuming health and safety risks because clinical and prescribing practices were not monitored”
The inspector general made five recommendations. They include designating an outside group to oversee quality control and setting written policies and procedures for staff. The Pentagon agreed with the recommendations, according to a memo that accompanied the report.
A limited inquiry
Monahan recused himself from the probe. He directed investigators to a congressional counsel for any future communication, and the report said that lack of access “significantly limited” its work.
A separate Navy investigation is still under way, and its findings have not been released. The probes by the Pentagon watchdog and the Navy began about a year ago.
Neither Monahan nor the Navy publicly announced the resignation, and the Navy’s website still listed him as attending physician. Senate Majority Leader John Thune confirmed the departure on Thursday. “My understanding is he’s resigned,” Thune said.
Punchbowl News first reported that the Navy had removed Monahan from the post. Monahan and the Navy did not respond to requests for comment.
The Office of the Attending Physician provides medical care to members of Congress and their staff, as well as to Supreme Court justices. Congress created the office in December 1928, after it took hours for a doctor to arrive when a House member died and two others collapsed.
Monahan kept a low profile for most of his tenure, as holders of the job usually do. He became a familiar voice during the Covid-19 pandemic, when he advised lawmakers on testing, distancing and masks at the Capitol.