Attorney Jonathan Rose will help you fight for your career. Virginia doesn't run criminal background checks on nurses seeking a license to practice. Expectations Are Changing]. The Ontario Nurses' Association fought to try to get her job back, den Ouden said. WebState allowed drug-stealing nurse to keep practicing A drug-addicted nurse caught stealing medications twice is allowed to keep her license for nearly four years. Hayes says the fine against the wholesaler was a wake-up call, and now suppliers use algorithms to identify unusual spikes in orders of opiates. She currently works as a charge nurse in a busy outpatient primary care department. Each BON has a process for investigation and varying levels of programs to assist nurses through recovery. At the time, the Board of Nursing knew she was addicted they had for years and had allowed her to stay licensed. Nobody wants to talk about it," Waite-Labott said.That was certainly the case when we reached out to a handful of Milwaukee hospitals to discuss this story. WebWhat Happens When a Nurse Has a Substance Abuse Problem? "I was treated at home," she said. She pleaded guilty toacquiring a controlled substance through subterfuge. Safeguard students and staff with innovative video solutions. WebDrug diversion is a felony that can result in a nurses criminal prosecution and loss of license. Close monitoring, nurse support groups and accountability move the needle in Florida's alternative discipline program, which at one time topped all states with an 80 percent success rate. He tellsSecurity Managementthat he would call in a sheriffs detective to interview the suspect. The boy was receiving palliative care at home. "It feels like it just depends on who you get almost. Is someone watching you too closely as you leave the pharmacy? Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about In total, Frame allegedly dispensed 1,467 two milliliter Bonnie Zientek spent years stealing drugs from patients in Richmond, as a nursing director at more than one facility, and sick people went without narcotics. "I was putting my patients at risk," Waite-Labott said. 
Hayes was cited by the state's nursing board for 33 medication discrepancies involving Demerol, Percocet, morphine, Ativan and Valium at Chesapeake General Hospital. WebWhen reading a report that a nurse has stolen from her patient, what the reader typically envisions is that the client is compromised physically and/or mentally. What's the Difference Between Oxycodone and Hydrocodone? As for the state systems that license and monitor nurses, there may be changes coming. Boll must also serve a 3-year term of supervised release after the prison term. Den Ouden said she has been off drugs for more than three years. Robert W. Carter, Jr. is a Virginia attorney whose law practice is dedicated to protecting the rights of the victims of nursing home and assisted living neglect and abuse in Richmond, Roanoke, Norfolk, Lynchburg, Danville, Charlottesville, and across Virginia. Asked about the rewards of the wider profession, Karaffa gives a noncommittal "hmmm." We dare not be transparent.". Boll was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Other hospitals may prohibit nurses from carrying medication in their pockets to prevent theft or switching. Katie Louise Boll, age 31, from Manchester, Iowa, received the prison term after a September 3, 2019, guilty plea to one count of tampering with a consumer product, specifically liquid morphine prescribed to a patient, and one count of acquiring a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, deception and subterfuge. "I find it pretty appalling and certainly not the conduct you would expect of a nurse," says Gina Dennik-Champion, president of the Wisconsin Nurses Association.Stefanie Jones, a nurse at another hospital, was caught on camera removing morphine from vials and then refilling them with water without using gloves.A total of 42 patients were affected and five got a bacterial infection. "News reports and critical audit findings by state governmental entities involving alternative programs have fueled questions about the effectiveness, transparency and accountability of programs and their participants, as well as the efficacy of the boards," a national industry guidance document states. An attorney could limit that exposure and possibly get them into a treatment And those are just the nurses who have been caught. You find out 60 days or six months later, or you dont see that pattern emerge by just using one or two data sets. The last time she got caught, she admitted this was not the first time she had addiction issues at work. Although more people are paying attention to drug diversion due to recent high-profile cases and the current opioid epidemic in the United States, experts say they have been dealing with the same problems their entire careers. 
She graduated from California State University, Sacramento in 2000 with a bachelor's degree in nursing. So she did. Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. A suicidal person may also steal drugs in order to make an attempt on their life. If you want to self-report an addiction, visit this website for more information.If you want to read Waite-Labott's book, you can find it on Amazon. Webconduct, such as drug diversion, is usually at the dis-cretionofahospitalschiefnurseofficer.However,nurse peer assistance programs are available and operated by the New York State Nurses Association or statewide professional association of nurses to assist nurses who havedrug-relatedproblems.AsanNE,itisimportantto WebIf a nurse is CAUGHT stealing narcotics they are usually terminated immediately and referred to a rehab program & therapy it is at the discretion of the state board to While you may not suspect people at work or church or whatever else you spend time, know that painkiller addicts come from all walks of life. Its not doing the wrong thingyoure helping them, and thats the message we sent out. See a spelling or grammar error in our story? When the monitoring program found out what she was up to, it removed her from practice, according to a Department of Health Professions spokeswoman. Which Medications Interact With Grapefruit Juice? The idea of returning a nurse struggling with addiction to a workplace filled with drugs seems counter-intuitive to some. Adrienne Dellwo is an experienced journalist who was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and has written extensively on the topic. 
In 2010, hydrocodone prescriptions were filled 131.2 million times at retail pharmacies alone, making it the most commonly prescribed medication, according to the Mayo Clinic. Sheshtyn Paola 09/04/2021. 
But not reporting nurses who steal drugs or are discovered to be high at work is so common that industry insiders have their own name for firing people to avoid turning them in. After an investigation into a diverter is opened, it is unclear what happens to the offender. Those systems aren't the only changes in the nursing field in Virginia in the last 20 years. Mitchell points out that any statistic derived from officially collected data still wouldnt accurately reflect the extent of drug diversion in the United States. Web65 views, 3 likes, 0 loves, 3 comments, 1 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Living Waters Church: Join us tonight Mayo Clin Proc. Not just security personnel should be involved with the diversion aspect, he says. He makes $40,000 a year, did you ever do any investigation into why?, On the floor. One pharmacy in Florida went from ordering 95,800 pills in 2009 to 2.2 million pills in 2011, according to the DEA. The opioid addiction in America has lit my practice on fire, she says. Unscrupulous healthcare providers who steal patient medications hurt those vulnerable patients they have promised to help. If the diverter has a license from one of those state agencies, usually its required that they be reported, and then its up to the board how they proceed with the personal license of the individual, he says. The document shows she admitted to realizing she was engaging in drug-seeking behaviors in early 2019, which is when she went to rehab. The scope and frequency of drug diversion is almost impossible to grasp, due in large part to how diversion cases are addressed. Approximately one in 10 nurses has a substance use disorder, Swedeen writes. The diverting healthcare worker typically isnt one whos going to be selling or diverting his or her drugs on the street, but they are abusing the drugs while they are working., Leon worked hard on diversion prevention at HCMC after discovering a surprising pattern: almost all of the diverters he investigated wanted to be caught. Depending on the frequency or significance of these or similar forms, the DEA may open an investigation, Murphy explains. Similarly, it is important to rotate who delivers the drugs to the patient floors. One would take liquid morphine and replace it with water, our pharmacy puts blue dye in ours. 
(The idea had come up in prior years but wasn't funded). Prescription Drug Overdose in the United States: Fact Sheet. Every case has different facts. It can make good people do things they wouldn't dream of otherwise. USA, Supply Chain Challenges and Opportunities, Whos Liable for an Active Shooter Incident? According to the article, the nurseabused some of the drugs she stole and sold others. Furthermore, the impairment of the nurse may endanger the life of the patient in their care. "Health care workers close ranks rather than reporting a colleague's problem, and the continued enabling is harming patients," he said. Facilitiesidentify narcotic diversion in a number of ways. WebIn 2016, registered nurse Leigh Wardlaw, a drug addict working for Closing the Gap Healthcare, stole morphine she was supposed to inject into a young Kitchener teen dying of 
But many large employers don't want to talk about the problem. He called the doctor and the nurse into the hall and explained that the patient had just gotten saline and still needed the proper pain medication because the nurse had diverted the hydromorphone in the medication room. Some get a criminal record but no jail. The nurse later admitted she stole the drugs from hospital supplies. Unfortunately, there are different laws and statutes in every state that set up some sort of reporting requirements, he says. Sharon Paxton of Staunton knows one day she'll need nursing care. This is something that is probably happening but were not finding it, he says. Ever-present on his job is the prospect of a visiting family member noticing a rash his staff missed or a fall requiring an emergency trip to the hospital. "There are limits to even being able to keep a nurse in practice," said Michael Van Doren, who directs Texas's alternative program for nurses. WebAccording to Court documents, Gilmore was a nurse at North Colorado Medical Center in 2016 when she stole fentanyl, morphine, and hydromorphone from the locked automated The nurse held up the saline syringe and wasted the required amount, tricking her fellow nurse, and left the room. ", "Here's the deal," said Kate Malliarakis, assistant professor of nursing at George Washington University. What got me on this path of prevention was observing the nurses as they would admit to what they did, he explains. What Are Some of the Challenges of Being a Substance Abuse Nurse? He believes sometimes the best outcome of alternative discipline is the recognition that some nurses shouldn't practice. WebThat nurse, Stefanie Jones, is accused of removing morphine from syringes and refilling the syringes with water. In November, officials offered an updated response about the backgrounding policy. ", A year later, she quit drugs but later relapsed. 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