ABC57 investigation uncovered startling number of nurses stealing, abusing drugs
On the above link there is a video report… website would not allow me to get a link to embed it on this blog
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — We trust them to take care of us and family members in the hospital, nursing homes and the doctor’s office. But, ABC57 is uncovering a startling number of nurses are stealing and abusing powerful drugs while on the job.
Just this past may, Creekside Village Nursing Home in Mishawaka, made a police report claiming someone had stolen liquid morphine and replaced it with cough syrup. In April, the Attorney General’s office filed a complaint against the nursing license of a former St. Joseph Hospital employee accused of stealing pain medications. Those are just two recent examples of what people in the medical profession call “diversion,” or the theft of prescription drugs.
In a review of just 90 days of complaints filed against nurse licenses across the state, ABC57 found 39 of 66 involved the abuse or theft of medications. That’s nearly 60 percent of all of the cases.
It’s such a problem, the state has a contract with a company aimed at treating addictions of nurses, doctors and pharmacists.
“We currently have 417 in active monitoring.” Tracy Traut, a Clinical Case Manager with Indiana Professionals Recovery Program, said. “Indiana professionals recovery program is what we refer to as an alternative to discipline program for medical professionals in the state of Indiana.”
IPRP took over the state contract less than a year ago. In the 11 months it’s been working with the state, they’ve dealt with nearly 650 medical professionals, mainly Nurses. Traut says it’s a national problem. The criminal defense lawyers based in Orange County area is where you can get legal help.
“3 to 6 percent of nurses currently engaged in active practice, have an alcohol or drug addiction problem.” She said.
IPRP serves essentially as a middleman. If a nurse has been accused of stealing drugs, fails a drug test or has a DUI, the state’s licensing board will have the company do an assessment, then recommend treatment. Traut and her team then monitor their treatment, pass info along to the state and, many times, the employer.
“You have an accountability system.” Traut explained.
That accountability system is essential for nurses who are allowed to go back to work on a probationary license, Traut says. Many times those nurses will have restrictions on handling narcotics and could be monitored by Traut’s team for up to 5 years.
“What we want to do is make sure everyone is make sure everyone is feeling good and stable and back on their feet, before they go back to the hustle and bustle of work.” She said. “We have many nurses who go back to have successful careers, happy lives, who go back to being pharmacists, pharm techs and really do beautifully for most of their lives.”
Traut says it’s common for any addict to relapse. In fact, about 50 percent relapse in the first 6 months of recovery. Traut says the goal is 5 years of sobriety. At that point, the chance of relapse drops by half. IPRP says they’ve had clients relapse, but, so far, none of it’s clients have been caught taking medications from their employer during or after monitoring.
ABC57 reached out to multiple state offices for comment. The state licensing board would not answer our questions. Indiana Attorney General, Curtis Hill’s, Office did not return our messages.
Filed under: General Problems
Medical staff theft has always been a problem and continues to be a big one when those in power refuse to investigate and take action. Many thieves just go from one job to another without any discipline for their illegal acts. The Oregon Medical Board, the Oregon State Police, the Douglas County Sheriff’s office and others have failed to examine the illegal prescriptions that occurred at two prominent doctor’s offices in Roseburg, Oregon. One local pharmacy discovered that two different nursing staff members at each of the offices were writing prescriptions for opioids for themselves, family members, and other “patients” without the doctor’s knowledge. Obviously those doctors are too stupid to use the Oregon PDMP to monitor their patients and their staff members who have easy access to their prescription pads. Neither the pharmacy or the doctors ever turned in reports to the proper authorities and no disciplinary action was ever taken to the perpetrators. One of them went on to work at the local hospital’s ER; talk about easy access to medications!
In the hospital a few short weeks ago for my newly acquired heart failure are two nurses standing there asking me questions, as expected. So one asks “Do you use street drugs?” I said “No”. Immediately, I mean instantly, both said “YOU DON’T??!!” Heard more than a few stories here in Wisconsin of nurses grabbing Docs DEA number and filling themselves up, but it was catch and release for them.
This doesn’t surprise me a bit. Nurses are people; people have problems (plus, frankly, most of the nurses I’ve encountered in the last 40 years have been obnoxious at best, abusively sadistic at worst. Even if they’re overworked, it’s not an excuse in my book).
Having said that, I’m monumentally p.o.’d that, ONCE AGAIN, voluntary drug abusers get “monitoring & treatment,” while INvoluntary pain people get kicked out in the cold, get abused, discriminated against with societal approval, & basically get hounded to death, without treatment, compassion, or anything but viciousness.
I am, frankly, incredibly sick of hearing all the warm & fuzzies about how drug abusers have a disease, deserve treatment & compassion & yada yada yada. If society is so eager to get rid of “parasites”, why are some coddled & others (pain patients) driven to death with full political & societal approval? I’d be much happier if either society tossed every addict under the bus, which would provide equal treatment to them & to pain patients, or (preferably) it started pretending that pain patients were human too, & deserving of AT LEAST as much compassion & treatment as voluntary drug abusers. Why in the hell are those who CHOOSE to abuse drugs –and yes, there is a choice there– seen as far more human than people who have genetic conditions or have been injured or were screwed up by surgeries? I lived life “right” the way all the morons claim will keep you healthy –non-smoker, little to no alcohol, ate right, exercised like a demon, gave thousands of hours volunteering to educating children, worked responsible jobs (for more than 2 decades doing so very successfully while taking pain meds for conditions I was born with). Why am I supposed to suffer until I kill myself when the heroin addict living down the street MUST be coddled, treated, medicated, and saved??
Yeah, I’m mightily, massively ticked off & don’t care who knows it.
What you said is nothing but truth. It’s the million dollar question. I’m at my wits end,like you. I can’t live like this much longer,if you want to call laying in bed in pain living.Something has to give.Like you said why are the addicts getting treated like kings and the people in pain are “drug addicts?” This whole story is so absurd,if it wasn’t hurting and killing 100 million plus Chronic Pain Patients,it would be funny. But WE aren’t laughing….Good Luck to you.
Amen Ms.Canarensis,,,,your words nailed it for me too…I was going to defend some nurses,,for the prejudice ,bias is the same for them,,u take a medicine,opiate for that bad back from lifting patients for 40 years,,your nothing more then a addict,,,not true of course,,,but like us,,,that is how their viewed,,HOWEVER,,, if more of them came out of the closet so to speak,,,that our MEDICINES work for the medically ill,,in physical pain,maybe more prejudicial ass’s,,would be more likely to believe us?!!!
Sadly I am truly accepting the fact,,they truly want us dead,,they really do,,,,they don’t care if we commit suicide,,or die in agony,,,For that’s is the type of society that is created when MONEY is all that matters,,.No surprise Kolodny is the head of the snake on this 1,,,,for history has shown 10 of thee worse human atrocities have been done by the field of psychiatry,,Eugenics or as kolodny states,,”mental hygiene,”,is alive and thriving in America,,,,maryw
This really has me wondering about the hospice people when my father died – one of the first things they did was come running in to grab the remaining pills he had left over from his cancer treatment and pain control. Now they told us it was to protect us from becoming despondant at his death and overdosing on his meds ourselves but we actually had no clue how those medications were handled after they left our home – were they taken by the staff and used by them? Taken and disposed of properly or exactly what did happen to them? WE have no idea but considering how many medical staff use drugs improperly it sure makes one wonder what did happen to them and I will never really have a satisfactory answer since this happened back in 1999 with my father’s situation.
Technically/Legally those opiates belonged to your Father and at his passing… it was basically illegal for anyone else to possess them. They should have been flushed on the spot and the nurse document their destruction and have it witnessed by someone there at the time. I had a Pharmacist working for me at one time – for a short time – that had worked for a home nursing service and returned opiates him and a tech starting recreationally uses those returned opiates and ended up getting hooked.. I did not know this when I hired him.. but … while I was out of town at a convention, my trusty technician noticed some seldom used opiates were missing from inventory. It took us a few days to document that it was him… and being in a small town and friends with the local narcs… they came in one night at the end of his shift, arrested him and took him directly to rehab. That was around 1990 and I lost track of him.. but.. apparently the current obit on the web… he died in 2014 at the age of 58 and in the obit it states Expressions of sympathy can be made to the Alzheimer’s Association.. so apparently he died from that very horrible disease.. Barb’s Father had early onset Alzheimer… so we have some very first hand knowledge of what he and his family had to deal with.
Exactly as you have described at my Mothers passing February 27th, 2019, the hospice health care nurse watched my wife and I dispose of the remaining pain medications for my “Mom”. She and the other members of the team advised my wife and I to appropriately dispose of her remaining medications, and that is what we did. Her pain medication was so closely monitored during her 3 months of sickness that there was not much left but, I praise this particular team for acting VERY professional during her last months of life..
Barbara;
I am very sorry about your father. I don’t at all mean to minimize your pain or your questions, but my Mom died around the same time…and even tho there was no question her leukemia was going to kill her within weeks, no one allowed her any pain medicine at all. Her last 3 weeks were spent in an untreated, unspeakable, monstrous Hell of agony. If she’d been allowed pain meds I would also be very suspicious & angry about what happened to them….but I gotta confess I wish I were in that position rather than having to watch her die in absolute torture. I truly don’t mean to sound demeaning, but…I’m sorry your dad died, but I’m glad he got at least some pain relief.
That said, the “reason” they gave for stealing his meds –to protect y’all– is utter, complete, forehead-smacking BS, IMO. They probably figured you were so lost in grief you wouldn’t even remember them acting like criminals. Vile behavior. They probably had a whole drug-stealing ring.
Over and over again the people who need the medicine are getting screwed.
Hi Steve!
You got that right. And the people who CHOSE to abuse drugs get all the compassion & treatment.
kelly
Not surprising to me. Knowing the REAL cause of drug abuse and chronic disease, I have predicted an escalating increase of fibromyalgia and other chronic pain conditions in nurses. More are becoming luetic because of the increased exposure to toxins by professional standards. Every time they turn around they are washing their hands with hand sterilizer. The skin is the #2 absorber of toxins. So more toxicity leads to luetism, and fibromyalgia is rampant. The desire for drugs is also a luetic response. So the thefts and cover-up is, in my opinion, an expected result. It will only be when the REAL cause of addiction (toxicity) is accepted, that we will see an end to the increase of addiction across all populations. But nursing is high on the list.