Theft of a controlled substance, attempted distribution, forgery, and elder abuse were the charges issued against two Alabama nursing home nurses (one an RN and the other an LPN) when they were recently arrested.
In a one month period reviewed, one of the nurses is alleged to have signed out a dozen doses of 5 mg Oxycodone prescribed for a 90-year-old resident, but none of the doses were given to the resident. Additionally, that nurse reportedly stole six doses of 7.5 mg Norco tablets that were prescribed for, but not given to, an 81-year-old patient, and confiscated two prescription cards containing eight Ondansetron 4 mg tablets prescribed for a 77-year-old resident.
The elder abuse charges are related to depriving those patients of their medications.
The two nurses are alleged to have met together at various times between January 31 and May 1 to exchange the stolen medications.
The forgery charges resulted from the false entries made by one nurse into the medication control document that indicated the medications had been either administered or wasted. The other nurse signed documents stating she had observed that the medications were wasted according to policy when they were not.
Bail for each nurse has been set at $100,000.
Compliance Perspective
Failure to prevent staff members from misappropriating controlled medications intended for residents may result in significant medication errors, and be considered abuse, neglect, misappropriation, and exploitation of the affected residents, which could be deemed provision of substandard quality of care, in violation of state and federal regulations.
Discussion Points:
- Review policies and procedures regarding securing controlled substances and reconciliation of controlled medication logs.
- Train staff regarding abuse, neglect, misappropriation, and exploitation, and the importance of reporting alleged violations and reasonable suspicion of a crime to their supervisor or through the Hotline.
- Periodically audit medication logs to ensure that there are no discrepancies and suspicious indications of medications being “wasted.” Conduct audits comparing documentation in the residents’ Medication Administration Records to the Controlled Medication Logs.
