PUBLISHED: November 17, 2012 at 12:00 a.m. | UPDATED: September 11, 2018 at 12:00 a.m. A state licensing board and the Attorney General"s Office have accused a vocational nurse of diverting . She recalled having been told eating at the nurses stations was against protocol. By using the site you agree to our Privacy, Cookies, and Terms of Service Policies. HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATORS SOMETIMES DONT TELL THE TRUTH. She said she routinely visited the break room to grab a snack, check her cell phone or use the staff restroom inside, which she assumed was cleaner than the public ones. you diverted 2.) HR continues to harras me and even mention that my director could have given me a heads up 2 hours before I was to report in for a meeting in which I knew nothing about. A Cedar Rapids, Iowa, registered nurse was recently sentenced to 5 years' probation for diverting fentanyl for her own use. But there is no reason to panic. Specializes in Complex pediatrics turned LTC/subacute geriatrics. Has 30 years experience. Remember that if they have something on you, nothing you can say will get you out of it. Later . Agreed with the above. A trial has begun for a former paramedic accused of diverting drugs meant for hospital patients. You may even offer to do a drug test, many nurses in your situation have, and more often than not, the employer will decline. So what should you do if faced with an accusations concerning your charting errors and or alleged diversion of narcotics or other drugs? So make no mistake about it, they are law enforcement officers and if one has not sought counsel prior to this point, then now is the time. Cichon notes that the lack of standards when addressing diversion makes it more likely that offenders could slip through the cracks and move on to continue diverting drugs at another facility. Unfortunately, there are different laws and statutes in every state that set up some sort of reporting requirements, he says. Murphy, who worked for the DEA for 25 years, now helps companies follow mandates he calls vague and difficult to interpret. For example, DEA requires anyone carrying controlled substances to report the theft or significant loss of any controlled substance within one business day of discovery., This hospital had 13 vials of morphine that went missing and someone called me in to find out why, Hayes says. Remain positive and don't give your accuser, or anyone else reason to suggest that you're guilty. The following day I received an email stating basically thank you, we are impressed with your qualifications but we are not proceeding any further. Illinois dentist accused of diverting patients' anesthesia drug for personal use Phillip Jensen, 61, was arrested Monday on eight counts of drug diversion, eight counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, one count of tampering with consumer products, and three counts of false statements related to health care matters. Change your practice habits to keep your job and your license. Controlled Substances Actafter committing record-keeping and dispensing violations that allowed millions of doses of controlled substances to enter the black market. If somebody wants to steal or becomes addicted, they are going to find a way to do it, and sooner or later they are going to get caught, but then theres a problem because the hospital has to work backwards to determine how much was stolen and reconcile all that, he says. Protect yourself and do not give the employer or the future BRN investigation all they need to unequivocally prove diversion. Please spend some time reading the Diversion section of the blog, for more information. I will tell you whether Diversion is the only way to save your career. Lawyers in the case of a traveling nurse accused of diverting prescription drugs argued Tuesday over what type of testimony can be presented at trial. Home Accused of Diverting Drugs. and three counts of false statements related to health care matters. Accused of Diverting Drugs. I can personally tell you that I dealt with the same issues 15 or 20 years ago that the healthcare arena is facing today, specifically in the drug abuse and diversion by their own hospital healthcare employees, says Charlie Cichon, executive director of the National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators (NADDI) and a member of the ASIS International Pharmaceutical Security Council. Department of Justice investigator Mark Myrdek (left) sits on the stand. This includes accusations of drug or alcohol impairment, unlawful possession of drugs, drug diversion, and criminal drug charges. Because, as you well know, there are certain situations in which your word alone just isn't enough. Expectations Are Changing]. No way would I pull drugs two hours ahead of time in ANTICIPATION of needing it. In 2013, retail pharmacy chain Walgreens was charged $80 millionthe largest fine in the history of the U.S. What got me on this path of prevention was observing the nurses as they would admit to what they did, he explains. Due to the stigma of discovering diverters on staff, many hospitals just arent preparing themselves to address the problem proactively, Cichon explains. When prospective employers are doing reference checks, who are they calling? Specializes in HH, Peds, Rehab, Clinical. The patients were well-known to me and would have had to be woken up over and over to be scanned. This is where things can turn ugly for the RN accused of diverting medication, but who didnt. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. I was given a stack of charts and was told that I had failed to chart giving narcotics and failed to waste narcotics in the pyxis system, I was stunned as I could not believe the accusations. So, calendar your case and appear in court. Clearly it wasn't a one time incident either. tag_id.innerHTML = ''; If youre both ordering and putting away drugs, thats a bad thing because you can order six bottles when you only need five and keep one for yourself, Hayes notes. If you are wrongly accused, cooperate with the investigation. When they call that means that you are in trouble. Similarly, it is important to rotate who delivers the drugs to the patient floors. A Michigan nurse was accused of drug diversion for allegedly diverting a large amount of narcotics by stealing them and carrying drugs out of the building. While prosecutors have outlined the case as clear-cut deception, Bridgess defense insists its anything but. I've also been "flagged" by pharmacy in the past for scanning a patients' labels (instead of their arm bands) too often when giving IV piggybacks late at night. We are often contacted by nurses falsely accused of diverting narcotics, abusing narcotics, or stealing narcotics from patients. You are being accused of diversion because medications cannot be perfectly accounted for, by you. You are not accused of med diversion, you have not followed policy. Its no secret that opioid addiction has reached epidemic levels in the United States. Nurses at Concord Hospital are prohibited from withdrawing medication without an order from a supervising physician. A person cando five thingsif he/she is falsely accused of a crime. you were incompetent or negligent in your charting. The . The opioid addiction in America has lit my practice on fire, she says. We have defended thousands of RNs facing the BRN. In this instance it helps to have a lawyer. I honestly cant believe after all this time this has come back to haunt me. Whether in manufacturing plants, retail pharmacies, hospitals, or long-term care facilities, healthcare workers are stealing drugstypically for their own personal useand putting themselves, patients, and coworkers at risk. Please spend some time reading the Diversion section of the blog, for more information. During this time, youve hopefully found a new job and are being absolutely fastidious about your charting. Specializes in Neuro, Telemetry. In one especially egregious case, a traveling medical technician with hepatitis C would inject himself with his patients fentanyl and refill the same syringe with saline, ultimately spreading the virus to at least 30 people in two states. Review the policy.Pharmacy has a protocol that THEY must follow. Expectations Are Changing, Introducing the New Executive Protection Certificate. There was a poster recently that lost their job and were reported to the BoN & authorities for mishandling controlled & prescription only substances by pulling & "holding" onto narcotics & Benadryl "just in case" in a pocket. If you are diverting medication you need to get help. It takes an average of 4 hours to review your case. You find out 60 days or six months later, or you dont see that pattern emerge by just using one or two data sets. Has 8 years experience. Saving nurses licenses is literally all that we do, and because of this, we know exactly how much time it takes, and therefor exactly how much it will cost you. It takes 14 hours to negotiate an Accusation or 20.5 for a Hearing. The people who are your real problem are the people who are hiding in the weeds, not doing enough to get caught, and those are the ones you want to find, Mitchell says. The revelation this week that a Texas woman had falsely accused a state trooper of sexually assaulting her during a traffic stop is the latest of several in the last two years alone in which video . With the cameras I was able to show that she wasnt diverting, just being sloppy. Often the reports they generate as to the errors are so complex and confusing that these errors and deceptions are not immediately noticeable. Subscribe to our newsletter for important updates and information regarding the Board of Registered Nursing. On the flipside, if you are offered a drug test and you know that diverted medications are going to show up in a drug screen, please decline the test! 1,509 Posts. 1 Article; We found out through the course of investigations that if someone resigns and was not sanctioned it may not be a reportable action, he says. When Circumstances Lead To False Or Exaggerated Accusations . This act is illegal and opens up offenders to criminal prosecution, including those related to felony charges. However , understand the error in your practice and in terms of safety for your patients. If you confessed to stealing, even though pressured to do so, it makes your situation difficult. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Student Nurse Applicants with Past Convictions, Petition for Nursing License Reinstatement, Please spend some time reading the Diversion section of the blog, for more information. Result:After successfully arguing our case, the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) promptly dissolved the summary suspension of the clients nursing license that day and delivered a favorable proposal to the Board of Nursing. So, at 11 p.m. on a Friday, Leon settled in for a night of observation at the Level I trauma center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. If you have to surrender yourself in Court, so be it. Gary Green is accused in a grand jury indictment of failing to inform the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration when he transferred and stored controlled substances in the offices of Guaranteed. In a few cases, we have even had a nurse accused of diverting because they GAVE more medication than other nurses never mind that they were working tons of overtime, so of course they were giving more! Mitchell points out that any statistic derived from officially collected data still wouldnt accurately reflect the extent of drug diversion in the United States. The Investigation is where the BRN finds the proof that you diverted. I thought I was being nice, but it wasn't the safest practice. Even though the accusations may be unfair and untrue, the situation is real. The Board accepted the ALJs proposed decision and dismissed the entire drug diversion complaint. Disclaimer:This information is a sample of our past results. Prosecutors will continue cross-examine Bridges today. Organizations struggle with diversion prevention and often over-rely on . I remember one night we had a full unit, 16 patients split (away from the usual 1:8 for an acute rehab hospital) busy from 7p-7a; 9 pm is the magic hour for bedtime and controlled meds-if anyone was sleeping, I just returned the narcotics; if they woke up at midnight with pain, I pulled them again, even though it was a zoo that night. avg rating 4.27 5,457,050 ratings published 1960. Allegations of diversion always stem from charting issues, always. Nurses who work in high paced intensive or critical care units or the emergency room are at particular risk of false allegations based simply on common charting errors. However, they typically do not carry guns, wear uniforms or flash their badge. I was completely honest even revealing that the BON was present but they did not discipline me and pointed out that I was rehired into the same health system years later. It takes about 4-6 months for a BRN investigator to contact you. Prescription drug use by medical personnel and drug diversion by health care providers has risen to epidemic proportions and become a significant public health issue. They are under a lot of pressure to catch instances of diversion, and repeatedly pulling a narc an hour of more before you give it is a definite red flag. Through a series of tough negotiations with the prosecutor and by portraying a strong defensive position, we were successful in dismissing four of the five counts and obtaining diversion pursuant to MCL 333.7411. Has 4 years experience. Immediately. After receiving the complaint, the Board of Nursing issued an Order of Summary Suspension pursuant to MCL 333.16231 for drug diversion. Chapman Law Group has a team of attorneys skilled in representing licensed health professionals in state, federal, and administrative courts during trials and administrative hearings. Agreedand the DEA won't care how busy your floor is. For a free initial consultation, call 866-970-0783 or contact our .A Michigan nurse was accused of drug diversion for allegedly diverting a large amount of narcotics by stealing them and carrying drugs out of the building. I am trying not to get upset but it's truly difficult. Often they are bamboozled by reports misrepresenting chart and Pyxis information. 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars. Taking data such as medicine cabinet access, shift hours, time to waste, and departmental access allows software to identify anomalies, such as a nurse whose time to waste is often high, or a doctor who accesses patients files after they have been discharged. Department of Justice investigator Mark Myrdek (left) sits on the stand. Good luck to you. Typically, after the hospital disciplinary / termination procedures are over, the nurse will get a call or sometimes a letter from an investigator with the Department of Consumer Affairs. Recommended Stories. She made me wait another 3 weeks for my new dose. But dont turn to the impairment program first do this instead. Dont start dialing that 1800 number just yet we can help! Recommended Stories Reuters Anger in. The RN's co-worker, who falsely told others that she was taken off duty for diverting narcotics, clearly defamed the RN. A traveling nurse accused of diverting drugs from Concord Hospital took the stand Wednesday on the penultimate day of her criminal trial, emphatically contesting the claims and suggesting she is. Sabrina Thalblum . I needed help, didnt know how to ask for it, and I was hoping somebody would stop me. Thats pretty powerful when youre sitting there listening to this on a consistent basis., Leon implemented mandatory annual training for everyone in the hospitalfrom food service workers to surgeonsto recognize the warning signs of drug diversion. Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory. Need Your Opinion About Medical Emergency. The scope and frequency of drug diversion is almost impossible to grasp, due in large part to how diversion cases are addressed. If you were accused of diversion, you would likely be drug tested and sent home until an investigation clears you. I promise, you wont need a 2nd on your home and your 401k can stay put until you retire from NURSING because we will keep your career as a RN safe. Hospital staff called the pattern unusual. Designed to give you the foundational knowledge and skills you need to become a more dynamic security professional, including EP specific threat and risk assessment, protective intelligence, advance planning and more. Being condemned as guilty evoked the shame of being falsely accused, disrespected, and bad. Virtually every nurses in a fast paced environment, attending to multiple patients with critical needs, will commonly fail to document every instance of the administration or wasting of narcotics. Specializes in Pediatrics, Rehab, Trauma. Happens to me all the time. 1-612-816-8773. allnurses Copyright allnurses.com LLC. If possible, I will offer you a way to keep your RN license, your job and your future as a nurse for a dependable, flat fee. While street drugs remain popular, an influx of new prescription pain medications in the late 1990s helped to fuel an opioid epidemic that killed 50,000 Americans in 2019 alone. It would be right before the procedure that I pull it, and I would waste the unused portion right after the procedure is done. If you diverted only a few times, it may be hard to prove that it was in fact diversion and you may be treated as someone who just made a few medication errors. The DEA doesnt regulate the personnelthats up to the state and the facility. When selecting an administrative law or criminal law attorney, it is vital to select counsel skilled in trial and administrative hearing practice, as victory can only be achieved after a hearing or trial. To restock the shelves, pharmacy technicians compile lists of what medications they are low on to send to the wholesalers at the end of each day. Carrying it around in your pocket is just asking for trouble. Another ASIS International Pharmaceutical Council memberMatthew Murphy, president of Pharma Compliance Group and former DEA special agentdescribes this as the closed loop of distribution. Has 16 years experience. I was falsely accused of drug diversion. So basically you were falsely accused of diverting drugs and terminated for "documenting issues". Cichon notes that many hospitals throughout the country have no plan in place to actively look for diverters. To ensure safe quality nursing care, it is critical to immediately address nurses suspected of diverting drugs or using drugs. You have a clean drug test, that you got on your own. And one should not rely on a union rep to come to the rescue. Some medications can also trigger false positives for an illicit drug. you didnt. 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. CONCORD, N.H. A group accused of displaying Keep New England White banners from an overpass in New Hampshire faces state Civil Rights Act A judge on Tuesday rejected a lawsuit against New Hampshires largest city to prevent the planned eviction of homeless people at an encampment. You have people that are already in very stressful situations, and now you give them access to drugs. Has 14 years experience. Leon, who was in charge of diversion investigations at HCMC for 20 years before becoming a consultant for HelioMetrics, was able to investigate but not interview suspected diverters. Decline plea bargains. 248.644.6326F. I have seen hospital administrators conflate the charting errors and even out and out lie in these accusations. Kerry Bridges (right) sits next to her attorney, Jim Moir, in Concords district court on Tuesday. Maybe in can be shown by other witness testimony that he had the drugs.The only way a warrantcan be out for your arrest is ifa Complaint was filed. Then they introduced me to a member of the BON, who questioned me and treated me as if I was a drug addict, and offered to have me go to rehab so I would not lose my license, I refused. Rate this book. The City of Trinidad has reached a $375,000 settlement in a lawsuit brought by the ACLU of Colorado on behalf of two women who were arrested three years ago in a botched drug-sting investigation. NEW! Bridges was accused of misconduct in 2014 by Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, but it was never raised Wednesday in court. In fact, up to 15 percent of healthcare workers are addicted to drugs or alcohol, compared to 8 percent of the general population, according to the Mayo Clinic. Perhaps you failed to properly waste a med. This seems crazy because if you are being accused of diverting meds, wouldnt the employer want to prove that those medications were in your system? You have nothing to hide, so don't hide yourself. I agree that she needs to stop doing what she got flagged for. Your employer is a mandatory reporter, and regardless of how beloved you are, I can promise you that they are not going to put themselves on the line by not doing what they are required by law to do. Weve made it our career to save yours. Drug and Alcohol Complaints Before the Missouri Board of Nursing Allegations involving drugs or alcohol are among the most common reasons nurses receive complaints from the Board of Nursing. If they dont have you, you can only hurt yourself by talking. This is something that is probably happening but were not finding it, he says. Choosing a specialty can be a daunting task and we made it easier. Falsely accused for hit a teammate drug tested sent home 2hour after it happened This happened at a cross walk that the person was not in they was tat the pole I made a turn from a stopped position to park my order . If a 300-bed hospital is finding one person a month, and Hospital B has the same amount of staff and beds and is finding nothing, NADDI has been providing training for hospitals to develop antidiversion policies. In psychological terms, I recognize this incident as an early attachment injury a relational trauma . Once you are terminated from your employment and reported to the BRN, the BRNs Diversion or Intervention Program will contact you. The drugs are sorted and stocked in the pharmacy, where they will remain until they are brought up to the patient floors and stored in various types of locking medicine cabinets. Im wondering if maybe I was flagged in their system as do not hire because of my prior termination in 2009. These Accusations always call for revocation of the RN license, but in the thousands of cases we have defended, this has happened only twice to our clients (remember that earlier, super- subtle plug about the amazing attorney?) Maybe his prints are on the container in which the drugs were found. He tellsSecurity Managementthat he would call in a sheriffs detective to interview the suspect. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 52 people in the United States die every day from overdosing on prescription painkillers. Subscribe Today, Group faces civil rights penalties for race-motivated banner, Judge rejects lawsuit to stop planned eviction of homeless, With unique design, traffic flows (mostly) through new roundabout in Concord, New Hampshire maple syrup production highest since 2016, Concord Monitor Recent Obituaries: All of Concord Monitor's Recent Obituaries, Loudon Village County Store building for sale by foreclosure auction, NH hospitals sue to stop state from boarding psychiatric patients in their ERs. Did your manager write you up for this.. or simply make you aware that you cannot walk around with a narc in your pocket? 13,952 Posts. Prosecutors say doctors never signed off on the orders Bridges claims they gave her, and insist her behavior over the five weeks she worked in the hospitals emergency department was suspicious. (NICK REID / Monitor staff) '"; That doesnt help. If DEA determines that they are lax or have not been adhering to requirements, there could be anything from a fine to a letter of admonition requiring corrective actions. In more serious cases, DEA could revoke the registration because the activity or behavior was so egregious that it was determined that the facility is not responsible enough, Murphy explains. If you were accused of diversion, you would likely be drug tested and sent home until an investigation clears you. You are not following protocol. She stresses the importance of constantly mixing up the personnel who order and stock medications. Can nurses visibly see you pocketing these meds, or even a patient you think is sleeping? Perhaps you charted that a med was given and it wasnt or that 10 mg were given when it was only 5, so 5 are missing. I know thats the standard practice, and thats what we strive to do, she told prosecutor Brooke Belanger, but as youve heard others testify, that doesnt always happen., Bridgess attorney, Jim Moir, criticized the hospital and state investigators for never reaching out to Bridges for explanations before arresting her in Maine and labeling her a fugitive from justice.. 1 Article; Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have been snubbed from a royal portrait that was taken at a reception they were "uninvited" from. contemporary art in region 7 brainly; marc klopp instagram. on Tuesday, 04 August 2015. These se things can all lead to you either losing the med or actually being accused of diversion. You need to change yesterday. 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. If you have been falsely accused of a crime, you need a lawyer to help plan and present your defense. [5] Take the initiative and invite someone out for coffee who you haven't seen in a while. Cichon cautions that some hospitals hoping to avoid bad press and DEA scrutiny may look for loopholes. They MUST! We had a nurse who was highly suspected of diverting, he says. (Jeremy Blackman can be reached at 369-3319, jblackman@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @JBlackmanCM.). Fast forward to your recent interview in a different health care system. She has no criminal record. Not just security personnel should be involved with the diversion aspect, he says. Staff have said she showed no outward signs of drug use. . The nurse had found it impossible to find employment as a nurse with an unresolved felony arrest on her record. John the technician has been taking the drugs up to the floors for the last 20 years, Hayes says. tampering and narcotics diversion. Copyright 2023 RN Guardian, All rights reserved. Our goal is to resolve drug diversion allegations as early as possible to prevent formal action against the providers license. Healthcare providers are in very stressful jobs, Hayes says. One pharmacy in Florida went from ordering 95,800 pills in 2009 to 2.2 million pills in 2011, according to the DEA. Very understaffed working place. You could lose it, you could accidentally take it home, someone could see you pocket it and report it, etc, etc. 1700 Glendale, CA 91203 | 1-818-501-8600Copyright 2010-2012 Spiga & Associates. Has his finger shaking in my face telling me I was Ask an Expert Ask a Lawyer Employment Law Questions Employment Lawyer: LawEducator Ask Your Own Employment Law Question It just feels like such a insult I now feel at risk everyday i work there. All Rights Reserved. Choosing a specialty can be a daunting task and we made it easier. These investigators investigate all kinds of complaints regarding all kinds of professions and they are not experts in medical charting or the Nursing Practices Act. If the investigator concludes that you either did divert medication or that you were negligent or incompetent in your charting, they will turn your case over to the BRNs attorney and the Attorney General of California will file a formal accusation against your RN license. Drugs are most likely to be diverted during those times when they are in transit or exchanging hands, outside of the closed loop.