Co-worker stole my ID

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did you ever use someone elses idenity to steel narcotics form an acudose machine? How did it make you feel when you had to work with that nurse again that you stole her idenity from?

This post is directed to Jessica who wrote, I quote "I have nothing but respect for nurses in recovery and yes I know a few."

If you let the nurses in recovery you know read your posts, I bet they wouldn't have respect for you.:nono:

Noone ever said nurses who get caught diverting, come to work high, or get arrested for drug use are above other addicts. And noone said they shouldn't or don't get criminal charges pressed against them. I now have a criminal record for what I did. I was treated just like any other "drug addict" when I went in front of the judge. I didn't proclaim to the court "Oh, by the way I am an RN so take it easy on me!!"

I also think you have some very strong feelings about "drug addict nurses". Seeing that you have been a nurse for sometime and work in the ER I hope you have some comprehension of addiction and realize it is a disease and I hope you don't treat your patients who are in active addiction with the attitude of anger you have portrayed in your posts.

I did not ask to become an addict/alcoholic(yes I am both) but today I can accept it and be happy, joyous and free

Please do not attack me personally nursewendii and put words in my mouth. You do not know me or my experiences, I am entitled to my opinion I do not care that you disagree with me it is a free country. I am only talking about drug addicted nurses not alcoholics because I wish to keep with what the OP started in the original post. I am saying I respect nurses in recovery who never diverted drugs. I have absolutely no respect for a nurse who diverts drugs or uses her nursing licence or identity theft to get drugs or comes to work too stoned to work. I do not care if she is in recovery there is no excuse for this. Alcoholism is a disease drug abuse is not. Drug abuse is not familial alcoholism is. Sorry I would not be friends with a nurse who was caught stealing drugs or using someone elses name to get the drugs.

And no I am not angry I am just tired of posters who feel the need to input anything they feel even if it is not in keeping with the post and personnally flame anyone who disagrees with them . I say it again if you (I am saying this not personally but generally) wish to talk about your success in alcohol recovery start your own post.

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Please do not attack me personally nursewendii and put words in my mouth. You do not know me or my experiences, I am entitled to my opinion I do not care that you disagree with me it is a free country. I am only talking about drug addicted nurses not alcoholics because I wish to keep with what the OP started in the original post. I am saying I respect nurses in recovery who never diverted drugs. I have absolutely no respect for a nurse who diverts drugs or uses her nursing licence or identity theft to get drugs or comes to work too stoned to work. I do not care if she is in recovery there is no excuse for this. Alcoholism is a disease drug abuse is not. Drug abuse is not familial alcoholism is. Sorry I would not be friends with a nurse who was caught stealing drugs or using someone elses name to get the drugs.

And no I am not angry I am just tired of posters who feel the need to input anything they feel even if it is not in keeping with the post and personnally flame anyone who disagrees with them . I say it again if you (I am saying this not personally but generally) wish to talk about your success in alcohol recovery start your own post.

i think you will find that the "pros" the therapists, docs etc would argue with you that one is a disease and the other is not....and the last i heard etoh abuse was only minimally inherited and only for men....where we see families of drinkers it may well be nature vs nurture .....Peace

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Hey, angel's RN! Scary thought! I don't know if I could stomach it, but bills have to be paid. As my hubbie says, keep your friends close and your enemies (or to be more politically correct, your adversaries) closer! Good luck and watch your back!!! Been there!;)

Anne

LOL! Was he watching "The Godfather--Part II" last night too? I what channel it was on but I was watching it as well!

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Specializes in Lie detection.
alcoholism is a disease drug abuse is not. drug abuse is not familial alcoholism is. sorry i would not be friends with a nurse who was caught stealing drugs or using someone elses name to get the drugs.

and no i am not angry i am just tired of posters who feel the need to input anything they feel even if it is not in keeping with the post and personnally flame anyone who disagrees with them . i say it again if you (i am saying this not personally but generally) wish to talk about your success in alcohol recovery start your own post.

i have to understand that the above in blue is your opinion. because it sure isn't fact. and it sure isn't the view of the many professionals and experts who have studied addiction for years.

those of us in na do not differentiate between "two" diseases. there is only one. alcohol is a drug.

a nurse stealing drugs is sick, usually sicker than the nurse not stealing. addiction is a progressive and fatal disease. as it progresses, behaviors become more and more dangerous. therein would be the stealing, using anothers name, etc. i know that you can't look at it any other way but punitively. bad, bad nurse, let's punish the horrid thieving nurse. but that alone won't solve the problem.

i really don't see any "flaming" here. i see different views on a touchy and controversial topic. and it is natural for threads to morph as they go along, it is the way of message forums...i don't think that talking about alcoholism is such a huge leap.

again i ask where are the solutions? anyone that feels so strongly against addicted nurses should use that strength for a positive purpose, not a negative one. let's work together. if that's not possible then maybe people need to look at themselves (generally speaking, not directed at anyone in particular).

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Alcoholism is a disease drug abuse is not. Drug abuse is not familial alcoholism is.

WHOA!!! So by your definition nurses who divert narcs for their own use deserve to be drawn and quartered, but alcoholic nurses who steal containers of isopropyl alcohol or come to work smelling like they fell into the vat should be patted on their happy little butts and sent off to recovery to return as functioning nurses?

You need some major eddimacating, my dear! It is not alcoholism specifically that is considered a disease, it is chemical dependency. There is no difference between the two, except that one is purely a liquid ingestion and the other takes many forms. Many drug addicts are born of alcoholic parents but never touched alcohol......or it does nothing for them. The ADA covers anyone with a chemical dependency, not just people who drink alcohol.

I respect your right to your own opinion, but at least base your opinion after some education, please!!!!

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Hey, angel's RN! Scary thought! I don't know if I could stomach it, but bills have to be paid. As my hubbie says, keep your friends close and your enemies (or to be more politically correct, your adversaries) closer! Good luck and watch your back!!! Been there!;)

Anne

Thanks, busyrnandmom, I am definatly watching my back. I am also pursuing other avenues of employment. I am SERIOUSLY looking at traveling!!

's RN

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Specializes in ER, TRAUMA, MED-SURG.
Thanks, busyrnandmom, I am definatly watching my back. I am also pursuing other avenues of employment. I am SERIOUSLY looking at traveling!!

's RN

angel's RN - good for you!!!! I'll keep you in my prayers! Good luck if you decide to travel.

Anne, RNC

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Specializes in NICU, Pediatrics,Med-Surg.

Originally this thread started out talking about having your ID stolen and used by someone else to divert drugs and that happened to me a little over 2 years ago and i'm still dealing with it. The hospital was using an Omnicell machine and someone got my password and used it for several months before the hospital decided that I was doing it and without talking to me at all they called the police and there was a investigation. I live in a small town so I found out about it when a co-worker called me and said that she was told that I had been arrested. After working as a nurse for 18 years I knew what it meant to be accused of stealing drugs so after talking to a few other people I called my BON and contacted an attorney immediately and had a UDS done which was negative. The BON then called the hospital. This is a very long story and i'm trying to make it as short as possible. We had the previous month had a pharmacist arrested at work for being caught stealing drugs on camera so they were already fired up. When the police wanted to question me I wouldn't talk to them without my attorney and I couldn't get ahold of her at the time (she had already told me not to talk to them without her). So they ended up arresting me on 44 counts of possession of a controlled substance. My bond was $91,000. It cost me $12,000 just to get out of jail. When I went to court for arrainment they had dropped it to 2 counts but nothing else had changed. All of that started in May of 2005. I still have not gone to court and I still don't have a nursing license. The Louisiana BON do not try to help. When I went and talked to them in person I was told that if anyone called them they needed to be able to say they were doing something about it. She was referring to the headlines in the New Orleans paper. I know that the reason this hasn't been settled yet is because they jumped on it without thinking and now they have nothing to use against me except computer paper. Nothing of mine was ever searched so of course they have no evidence, my UDS was negative, I had letters from co-workers written and sent to BON attesting to my character, and there was even one of the times that a drug was pulled that I wasn't on duty and it states that in the police report. Anyway, my point to all of this is that even though I did not steal any drugs it is 2 years later and I still can't work as a nurse. And when it finally is over I will sue and I think they know that but in the mean time I have been living in hell over something I didn't do (and i'm a single parent). There isn't any help in place for people in my situation. So stealing someone else's ID to steal drugs is something I wouldn't do to even my worst enemy, much less my friend.

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Originally this thread started out talking about having your ID stolen and used by someone else to divert drugs and that happened to me a little over 2 years ago and i'm still dealing with it. The hospital was using an Omnicell machine and someone got my password and used it for several months before the hospital decided that I was doing it and without talking to me at all they called the police and there was a investigation. I live in a small town so I found out about it when a co-worker called me and said that she was told that I had been arrested. After working as a nurse for 18 years I knew what it meant to be accused of stealing drugs so after talking to a few other people I called my BON and contacted an attorney immediately and had a UDS done which was negative. The BON then called the hospital. This is a very long story and i'm trying to make it as short as possible. We had the previous month had a pharmacist arrested at work for being caught stealing drugs on camera so they were already fired up. When the police wanted to question me I wouldn't talk to them without my attorney and I couldn't get ahold of her at the time (she had already told me not to talk to them without her). So they ended up arresting me on 44 counts of possession of a controlled substance. My bond was $91,000. It cost me $12,000 just to get out of jail. When I went to court for arrainment they had dropped it to 2 counts but nothing else had changed. All of that started in May of 2005. I still have not gone to court and I still don't have a nursing license. The Louisiana BON do not try to help. When I went and talked to them in person I was told that if anyone called them they needed to be able to say they were doing something about it. She was referring to the headlines in the New Orleans paper. I know that the reason this hasn't been settled yet is because they jumped on it without thinking and now they have nothing to use against me except computer paper. Nothing of mine was ever searched so of course they have no evidence, my UDS was negative, I had letters from co-workers written and sent to BON attesting to my character, and there was even one of the times that a drug was pulled that I wasn't on duty and it states that in the police report. Anyway, my point to all of this is that even though I did not steal any drugs it is 2 years later and I still can't work as a nurse. And when it finally is over I will sue and I think they know that but in the mean time I have been living in hell over something I didn't do (and i'm a single parent). There isn't any help in place for people in my situation. So stealing someone else's ID to steal drugs is something I wouldn't do to even my worst enemy, much less my friend.

meanwhile, whoever stole your id, is still out there and likely doing it somewhere else, to someone else.

what a horrible, horrible situation for you, cherry.

you have my deepest condolences.

praying for your vindication and a just resolution.

leslie

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Specializes in NICU, Pediatrics,Med-Surg.

Yes, they are still out there. If the hospital had come to me first we could have caught whoever it was. No matter how bad something is I try to find something good about it and before this happened I don't really remember thinking much about impaired nurses. The population here is only about 15,000 so it's small and everyone knows everybody and this hospital had always kept everything quiet. But after going through everything that i've gone through I have the utmost respect for anyone who has to go through it and withdraw off of drugs at the same time. I don't know that I could have. So to all of the nurses out there that are recovering GOD BLESS YOU!

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So to all of the nurses out there that are recovering GOD BLESS YOU!

you are an incredibly forgiving person, cherry.

incredibly.

leslie

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Specializes in Lie detection.
Yes, they are still out there. If the hospital had come to me first we could have caught whoever it was. No matter how bad something is I try to find something good about it and before this happened I don't really remember thinking much about impaired nurses. The population here is only about 15,000 so it's small and everyone knows everybody and this hospital had always kept everything quiet. But after going through everything that i've gone through I have the utmost respect for anyone who has to go through it and withdraw off of drugs at the same time. I don't know that I could have. So to all of the nurses out there that are recovering GOD BLESS YOU!

And Bless You for going through what you have gone through and having the beautiful disposition that you do. I am so sorry for all that you have been put through and I sincerely hope your troubles are resolved soon.

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