Fraud and wow...I'm disappointed.

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I'm heartbroken today. I have been made aware with evidence of a fellow RN committing fraud. This fraud is the type of making up notes without actually seeing the patient. Not sure what else to say about this other than I feel sorry for her, ****** off, heartbroken and really disappointed. I expected more and better from her. Oh and she has been a nurse for 27 yrs. I looked forward to learning from her. Well, that won't be happening. She has screwed over her patients, my patients, agency and just all out is a huge disappointment.

:: Sigh :: Anyone else ever encounter this??? If so, what did you do and what can I do for her. I don't believe in making excuses for her but there must be a reason for this type of behavior.

I think I'm just ranting now. Thanks for reading.

AK

Specializes in home health, hospice, clinic, telemetry.
I have encountered this on more than one occasion. In one instance the individual was already in a new job before the DOCS could fire her. If a person becomes aware of the fraud and fails to report it, then they can also be accused of complicity. Check on "fraud, waste, and abuse" laws and your responsibility to report. This type of fraud is occasionally discussed in the home health forum. It happens often enough to be of interest to those in the field.

thanks so much. I'm going to ck out the HH section as well as the hospice section of this site. As far as being in a new job before getting "caught". That isn't the case for her. I found it and reported it. It is done. Doesn't make you (me) happy but I did what I was suppose to do and now I'm just going to let it go. In so many ways I can see where this type of behavior would be attractive BUT I know that this can be dangerous for the patient(s) as well as the nurses involved in the patients' care. So......I'm still disappointed but a bit PO'd too.

AK

Specializes in home health, hospice, clinic, telemetry.
Yikes!

Sad to say that in a situation like this, I prefer to use my head and not my heart.

Situations like this require some logical thought and analysis to gain an objective view of the situation.

Hopefully, this person did not entangle you in her web of fraud.

Me too on the using your head and not your heart part. I did use my head and did what I was suppose to do but I'm aware that my heart hurts too. Doing the right thing doesn't always mean it won't hurt. And no, I did not get caught up or entangled. I protected the patients and that is my FIRST priority. period.

Thank you much for writing.

AK

Me too on the using your head and not your heart part. I did use my head and did what I was suppose to do but I'm aware that my heart hurts too. Doing the right thing doesn't always mean it won't hurt. And no, I did not get caught up or entangled. I protected the patients and that is my FIRST priority. period.

Thank you much for writing.

AK

Good for you. I hope that you will not suffer from any retaliation due to reporting this person.

In the area I live in, retaliation can be swift and horrifying if you report something like this.

take care

Specializes in Health Information Management.

Thanks for putting your patients first. Even though it was clearly your duty, it couldn't have been easy for you to do so. It always hurts when someone you thought was a great mentor turns out to be less than sterling in the character department. I'm really sorry you had to go through this, but thanks for handling it professionally instead of trying to cover for her.

Specializes in Critical care, trauma, cardiac, neuro.

Colin Powell quote: "Being responsible sometimes means ******* people off."

Well said.

Nurses are reponsible people.

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