I happened upon this site while I was searching for information. I am not a nurse, but a member of my family is and it's beginning to look like we could have a serious problem. I am terribly concerned, confused and any help/support I can find here would be sincerely appreciated. Ok, here goes. My sister in law has been an LPN for over 10 years now. She has worked at our local hospital for quite a long time now. She spent most of her time working in the outpatient clinic. Straight days, no late nights or weekends, seemed like a perfect job. Until about 9 months ago. She came to me one afternoon for a haircut when she preceeded to tell me that she was no longer employed and wanted to "fill me in before I heard it from someone else." She told me first that she had it with them and quit, they had accused her of stealing drugs, Toradol was the name of it, and threated to turn her over to the state board of nursing. All the while she was telling me this story, she was drinking (more like sipping) on a bottle of prescription cough syrup. In my mind, I felt like there was a bit more to the story, because when I would ask specific questions she would just tell me repeatedly how awfully the hospital had treated other employees after the recent buyout, and this was an easy way to eliminate employees who had reached top salary. Anyway, a couple of days later, as she was again retelling the story of why she wasn't employed the story changed to that she was asked to resign and attend a counciling or they would report her to the state board. When I mentioned that she had earlier said she had quit, she said "quit , resigned, same thing". I was more convinced now that she she wasn't telling it all, so I didn't press the issue and just waited to hear more. One day at work, one of my customers asked about my Sister in law and how she was doing. I knew that she had previously worked with her and asked her exactly what she meant. Well, during the conversation she related to me that my sister in law had been watched for apparently quite a while and was under suspect of taking drugs from the locked cabinet, which I understand she had the key. The nurse said that those above her had stated that my sister in law showed "addictive tendancies" and that her drugs of choice were Demerol, codeine and other narcotics. I know this woman and she is the ultimate professional, and have no reason to think that she would lie, especially when it comes to the welfare of another human being. She told me to ask around, that all the local doctors were on to her doctor hopping to get her 'scripts that she needed. So, I asked, and sure enough, other nurses told me the exact same thing. Armed with this I decided to tell my mother in law what I discovered. Unfortunately, she didn't believe this could be true. Oh well, I thought what can I do? She obviously has covered her tracks and is making it worse on herself. Last months she asked me to take the day off. I asked her what she wanted, and she told me that she needed me to drive her to the Board of Nursing office that the hospital had turned her in, and that after she told the lady in the office the story, the lady told her that they wanted to just put a name with a face, show up and she'd be out in less than 10 minutes. I didn't go, and when I asked her how it turned out, she told me that the people at the state board office suggested she had quite a court case and that she should sue the hospital and she could get a large sum. Please tell me that I am not nuts...someone is not telling the truth here! My father in law is sick with cancer and the stress of his illness is hard enough without worrying whether or not she's stealing his pain meds behind our back. I am so distraught by all this...Please help!
