Co-worker stole my ID

angel's RN · Jul 21, 2007

Dear P_RN,

I meant no disrespect, and I am truly sorry. I was simply asking a question in reply to a previous post.

Again, I am sorry.

Angel's RN

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jul 21, 2007

Taz -- You are 100 percent right!!!
Tazzi - hope u guys had a great july 4th!!!!

I know it's infuriating sometimes, but here at Allnurses we have to allow someone their opinion and right to express it no matter how offensive it is to us personally.

Sometimes in a debate with certain people, we have to know when to just walk away and not say anything. Sounds like a few of you are at that point, and that's a very wise place to be. :)

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jul 21, 2007

Dear P_RN,
I meant no disrespect, and I am truly sorry. I was simply asking a question in reply to a previous post.
Again, I am sorry.
Angel's RN

P_RN's post might have been below yours but it wasn't directed at you personally, just a general statement. Not to worry.

LEN-RN · Jul 21, 2007

Re: the comment of nurses licenses being banned forever.

Would any of you recommend a recovering alcoholic to touch, smell or wipe of alchohol? To have a job as a bartender?? Just one slip can cause someone to start the cycle all over again. Why take the chance. Once an alcoholic always an alcoholic

There are nursing positions that have no contact with narcotics. As they recover and continue to recover, nurses should be protected in this situation, and not allowed to have access to narcotics if they are addicted. How is it different than alcoholism.

Yes it is a disease, but it doesnt start as a disease. We all have a choice, and its whether we cross that line or not. Nurse = trust

Cattitude · Jul 21, 2007

re: the comment of nurses licenses being banned forever.
would any of you recommend a recovering alcoholic to touch, smell or wipe of alchohol? to have a job as a bartender?? just one slip can cause someone to start the cycle all over again. why take the chance. once an alcoholic always an alcoholic
there are nursing positions that have no contact with narcotics. as they recover and continue to recover, nurses should be protected in this situation, and not allowed to have access to narcotics if they are addicted. how is it different than alcoholism.
yes it is a disease, but it doesnt start as a disease. we all have a choice, and its whether we cross that line or not. nurse = trust

first of all i don't think one should compare professional nursing to bartending though i do understand the point you are trying to make. that point is a common one that people often use in these types of discussions.

however many times its the bon that actually requests nurses to be back at bedside positions. different bon's have different restrictions and requirements. the nurse has to do what the bon says, you can't just work anywhere you want.

yes sometimes it does start out as a choice. and sometimes it starts out as using more and more of your pain meds. or using more and more of your anxiety meds due to your undertreated depression.

it's not always a clear cut answer. not even to us sometimes.

TazziRN, RN · Jul 21, 2007

Re: the comment of nurses licenses being banned forever.
Would any of you recommend a recovering alcoholic to touch, smell or wipe of alchohol? To have a job as a bartender?? Just one slip can cause someone to start the cycle all over again. Why take the chance. Once an alcoholic always an alcoholic
There are nursing positions that have no contact with narcotics. As they recover and continue to recover, nurses should be protected in this situation, and not allowed to have access to narcotics if they are addicted. How is it different than alcoholism.
Yes it is a disease, but it doesnt start as a disease. We all have a choice, and its whether we cross that line or not. Nurse = trust

Okay, another one who has a lot to learn......do you have any idea how many recovering alcoholics work as bartenders and stay sober?? Or how many recovering addicts are registered pharmacists?

As part of recovery we learn how to function in this world where these things are all around us. Not all of us can do it...those who can't choose positions where there is no exposure to the chemical of addiction. Many of us, however, can work around alcohol and narcotics and you would not be able to point us out. We work our programs every day and and are more aware than anyone else that relapses can happen at any time. The thing about relapse, though, most....not all, but most.....nurses who relapse do so in one of two situations: either the nurse is still early in recovery and is vulnerable to the sight/smell, or there is a trigger that led to relapse. We learn what our triggers are and how to avoid them, and most importantly of all, we learn how to recognize the triggers and follow a relapse prevention plan before the relapse happens.

If you do not believe that this is possible, ask the addicts/alcoholics on this board how much sobriety we have, then tell us that it doesn't work.

cherryrose · Jul 28, 2007

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.
Thank you to everyone that responded to my post. My attorney thinks that the DA is just drawing this out to satisfy the hospital and all of this will be eventually dropped. Maybe by dropping it they think all will be alright. Wrong! They have taken away so much from me, someone is going to make up for it. I've never been one of those sue happy people but they have cost me too much. All of my co-workers stood by me while administration was accusing me. And since I have chosen about 15 of my co-workers to testify for me before a jury the hospital isn't going to look so good. Then after it's over there will be a civil suit filed. They will probably drag that out forever. That's ok, i'm not going anywhere.
I think that all nurses can overcome their addictions through help and eventually be able to return to nursing. Maybe not in an area with free access to drugs, because of the temptation. They wouldn't want to sabotage their recovery but there are many areas in nursing where few drugs are used. I worked in the NICU for many years and very seldom were narcotics used. Just because a nurse has let herself stray that doesn't mean she can't find her way back. And she/he just might be stronger for it. I will never judge a nurse because of an addiction. It is not my place. None of us really knows what goes on in someone else's life so we can't understand. We can have empathy and try to help them.I am not mad at the nurse who stole my ID. I am mad at the hospital because if they had been doing their job they would have possibly caught it sooner and if they had come to me we could have set her/him up to be caught. But they automatically assumed it was me even though there was nothing in my past to even hint that I might do something like that. So as far as i'm concerned the fault is with the hospital. But there still remains someone out there stealing more drugs and not getting help.
My understanding and acceptance of people comes from working on the Indian and Eskimo reservation where the culture of these people are very different from ours.
I would lot rather work with a recovered nurse then one that hasn't received any help yet. I have the utmost respect for all of you because it takes a lot of guts to admit what you've done and then stick with the treatment. I pray for God to bless each one of you. ......................................................Linda

TazziRN, RN · Jul 28, 2007

I think that all nurses can overcome their addictions through help and eventually be able to return to nursing. Maybe not in an area with free access to drugs, because of the temptation. They wouldn't want to sabotage their recovery but there are many areas in nursing where few drugs are used. I worked in the NICU for many years and very seldom were narcotics used. Just because a nurse has let herself stray that doesn't mean she can't find her way back. And she/he just might be stronger for it. I will never judge a nurse because of an addiction. It is not my place. None of us really knows what goes on in someone else's life so we can't understand. We can have empathy and try to help them.I am not mad at the nurse who stole my ID. I am mad at the hospital because if they had been doing their job they would have possibly caught it sooner and if they had come to me we could have set her/him up to be caught. But they automatically assumed it was me even though there was nothing in my past to even hint that I might do something like that. So as far as i'm concerned the fault is with the hospital. But there still remains someone out there stealing more drugs and not getting help.
I would lot rather work with a recovered nurse then one that hasn't received any help yet. I have the utmost respect for all of you because it takes a lot of guts to admit what you've done and then stick with the treatment. I pray for God to bless each one of you. ......................................................Linda

Because you already bolded your post, I can't bold the parts I really want to point out so I will do my best here.

Thank you for your words. You are one of the few non-addicts who seems to have an understanding of our world. I especially like the part about blaming the hospital for how they handled the situation, rather than the addicted nurse. You, among the very few, actually got what we've been trying to say: addicted nurses do not commit acts to be malicious, but because we are driven by our addictions.

Your fight will be a long one, but I wish you the absolute best, I hope you tear the administration to pieces.

sissiesmama, ASN, RN · Sep 5, 2007

never?????? why in the h--- on your 1st offense and yes, i read that your uds was neg., would the bon want to take your nsg. license????? :angryfire:angryfire that makes no sense whatsoever!![/size']

is there no defense? why won't they believe you? did someone say something to someone and that someone took it the wrong way? sorry, this old brain does not compute! :smackingf
's rn

hey angels - no, it doesn't happen like that, that was a little creative license on my part. i went to rehab and couldn't nurse until after i finished that and an eval. by an addictionologist. my hubbie and i are both in recovery with over 6 years each and still actively nursing.

sorry for the confusion!!!! anne, rnc

leslymill · Sep 15, 2007

A question for for anyone?
Instead of maybe posting what horrible punishments should fall upon nurses that have substance abuse problems how about this.
Has anyone ever thought about doing something to help PREVENT any of this from happening in the first place?
It seems that we have some recovering nurses on here, myself included.
It seems we also have some that have been hurt deeply by addicts.
It just seems to me that so much good could happen if we tried to come up with some way to work together. Or at least come to some kind of understanding.
I know my goal is to eventually HELP my fellow nurses. To educate, so that maybe another nurse WON'T use. I wish that more knowledge had been out there for me. I don't have all the answers, that's why I need all of YOU.

Boy, I really think we should leave the punishments to the judges and the State Boards. I know I have been highly offended by addicts.

We had a wonderful RN join our team many years ago. It was nice to have an extra RN on the floor. Excellent beside manner, attentive to many of the needs we where not addressing as well as we could have been a wonderful assertiveness that made us all want to try harder. After about a month, she was placed in charge on my days off. When I was in charge she was making rounds on all the patients and including mine and focusing attentively to any patients with unaddressed pain. She would come to me for the narcotic keys to help with pain control on patients that she was not assigned to. She was a smart cookie too. She addressed the pain with heating pads, repositioning, etc... I was not one smart cookie. She was not saying nice things about me on my day off and the LPNs confronted me that they felt she was trying to take over my position. I did not even sense a hint of vindictiveness and was surprised that they thought this. They also hinted that she seemed to want to be in control of the narcotic keys all the time. They confronted her about her sweating and she said she was pre-menopause. Her eyes appeared clear and she was always cognitively alert in my presence. The LPNs caught her on my day off calling the doctor late at night for higher doses of both morphine and Demerol pain meds on two separate patients who she said claimed were unrelieved with their current orders , but she came out of the bathroom with a blood stain on her thigh and they requested she be tested...GO LPNs!! I didn't have a clue. It didn't upset me as much as I thought it would when it seemed she got a mild slap on the wrist from the Texas State Board in their recover program. She stayed with us and she never got to give medications. I am convinced it was her otherwise excellent and attentive patient care. you can argue that she was driven to it out of guilt for leaving her patients, who were in REAL pain, virtually unrelieved.

Even after her drive for the narcotic keys were smashed we valued her input and appreciated her hands. I may have even testified for her before the boards if the need arose.

ON THE OTHER HAND.

As a traveler in West Palm Beach Florida , I encounted a new grad with absolutely horrendous bedside care. We are talking fresh post-op pts without sufficient V/S charted, The only thing charted off the flow sheet was Demerol 25mg's given IM left hip.(can't really remember but)

No evident post- op assessment documented and the shift report didn't reflect what I confronted.( YEAH bedside rounds for this hospital)

IV's disconnected, pump unplugged and turned off. Oc at the wrong rates, never repositioned. Lying on their backs like they had not been touched since removed from the gurney. (HOB down, NGT draining on sheets). I really am not exaggerating. HORRIBLE, one shock after another. The other patients didn't seem cared for either. That was one negative for problem focused flow-sheet charting. No body had problems on her shift.

I refused to follower her after this event and was glad to find I was not the ONLY nurse who noticed unacceptable patient care in our travel dorm, from this nurse and the regular staff. The staff would shrug and nod knowingly, yeah her. I had to report it to the acting supervisor with a recommendation for more supervision. I wondered why I felt I was being ignored.. Later come to find out she is a distant relative of a famous White House General and not the only relative of that General working in the hospital.

Looking back I wish I had gotten a resident staff member to do my assessment with me.

The week- end rolls around and during narcotic count it is discovered that the ENTIRE 25/BOX OF DEMEROL 100MG VIALS (the 1 cc ones with the black snap off tops ) is now PEDIATRIC HEPERIN ( the ones with the same 1 cc vials with the same black snap off tops). We could not assertain how many counts had gone by unnoticed but even the charge nurse was sure who to suspect. The one young blond preppy nurse who only talked about the big fantastically awesome party she was going to Key West that weekend. The same one with the absolutely non- detectable bedside care). I truly think this girl planned to do this as a career goal from JUNIOR HIGH and had absolutely no clue how to be a nurse. We all know she had to have gotten her license somehow , but I could find no evidence at the bedside. ......TRUE STORY...and no...I don't know the ending.

rmelvin · Sep 30, 2007

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.

I feel very lucky after hearing of your incident. My manager talked to me and didnot handle my situation that way. i wasn't arrested. They believed me when I told them someone had stolen my ID.

You are in my prayers. Thank you for sharing. I have had and am still seeking counciling over the situation and pain this person caused me.i can't imagine the legal obligations that could go with it.

User123456 · Sep 30, 2007

I never had an id stolen but i had a co-worker steal my wallet and use my cc's to go shopping. we were good friends i thought. its sad you reallly dont know people.