Navy sailors in Congress's medical office say they were made to clip a lawmaker's toenails

Navy sailors assigned to the Office of the Attending Physician, the small medical office that handles emergencies for members of Congress and the Supreme Court, say they were used for jobs far outside their duties, including cutting a congressman's toenails, the Washington Examiner reported Friday, citing interviews the former sailors gave the Navy Times.

One sailor said personnel were handed tasks "no one else wants to do ... like cutting a congressman's toenails or bringing their medication to their private residence at 3 a.m."

A Pentagon inspector general investigation into abuses at the office is nearing its conclusion. Former staffers described 12-hour shifts with duty every other day, 70- to 80-hour weeks, and nights that ran until about 4 a.m. when Congress stayed in session late, with a regular 6 a.m. shift still waiting the next morning.

They said taking leave was discouraged even when a spouse or child was sick, and that sailors who asked to leave the three-year posting were met with hostility. One former hospital corpsman said a supervisor threatened him with orders to deploy to the Middle East if he left.

The findings have already cost jobs at the top. Rear Adm. Brian Monahan, the attending physician of the Capitol since 2009, was fired on Wednesday, along with his civilian deputy.

Update, Nov. 13: Monahan has resigned, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said, CBS News reports. A source told CBS the two-star Navy admiral stepped down over misconduct allegations tied to what he did and asked sailors under him to do in providing care. A Defense Department inspector general report found lax oversight of the office, including sleep aids and pain medication that were not properly inventoried or tracked, and CBS says the Navy is conducting its own inquiry.