Former Utah Nurse Stole Painkillers and Infected Patients with Hepatitis C
A former nurse recently pleaded guilty to stealing painkillers and infecting patients with a rare strain of hepatitis C. The defendant had been an emergency room nurse at a Utah hospital, and she admitted that she would divert painkillers intended for patients. She would first inject herself and then inject the patient using the same syringe, resulting in numerous patients being infected with the hepatitis C strain that she had.
In the plea agreement, while the defendant pleaded guilty to two counts of tampering with a consumer product and two counts of fraudulently obtaining a controlled substance, a dozen other similar charges were dismissed.
Though the defendant pleaded guilty to infecting seven patients, the Utah Department of Health estimated that at least 16 people were infected with the disease. State officials estimated that the former nurse exposed as many as 7,200 patients to the hepatitis C genotype B strain.
The former nurse is scheduled to be sentenced on December 5.
Compliance Perspective
Failure to prevent employees from diverting pain medications for personal use and then infecting patients with a blood borne illness by using a contaminated syringe may be considered abuse, neglect, and exploitation and provision of substandard quality of care, in violation of state and federal regulations.
Discussion Points:
- Review policies and procedures regarding restricting access to controlled substances and the reconciliation of those medications to determine if they are being diverted by staff members.
- Train staff members regarding the reconciliation protocols for accounting for controlled substances, and the importance of reporting any suspected diversion or violation of standards of care to a supervisor or through the Hotline immediately.
- Periodically audit the drug reconciliation protocols to determine if staff are adhering to them.
