North Carolina Nurse Gets 4 Years for Painkiller Mishandling

[allnurses]

A former North Carolina nurse, Melissa Elizabeth Chacona, was handed a four year prison sentence for replacing pain killers with saline. Chacona will also receive three-years of supervised release following the sentence.

In early 2019, Chacona began taking vials of controlled substances including:

• fentanyl,
• morphine, and
• meperidine

She would then replace the vials with saline.

"Testing revealed that compromised vials contained less than 15% of the actual medication and that the tampering had rendered multiple vials unsterile."

The release does not clarify what she did with the medications. As part of the plea, Chacona will have to permanently surrender her nursing license.

Chacona was working in the Raleigh area at a surgical practice during the time the crimes were committed.

[Lynker, ASN, RN]

Interesting. Did we ever find out what happened from her side of the story? Not that it changes anything, but this is intriguing. 

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

From this article, second occurrence

Nurse in Raleigh who stole surgical patients' opioid painkillers is going to prison

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

Addiction makes people do horrible things.  I have some empathy for the desperation and turmoil she must have and is going through because of her addiction.  I do hope this is rock bottom for her and that she cleans up and gets her life back somehow.

From the article above:  "Surgical patients trust health care providers to give them the medicines they need.,” and what she did should have consequences. Theft to the point is causes pain and suffering to other people is indeed criminal in my mind.  

On a side note, I took notice that she's 45.  I'm seeing quite a bit of older people addicted to pain killers and fentanyl.  Just last week at someone in their late 50's and early 60's.   We are not a well society.

 

[B52, BSN, MSN, RN]

She got 4 years for theft, not "mishandling."

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ednc/pr/nurse-who-stole-painkillers-replacing-them-saline-and-putting-surgical-patients-risk

[mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN]

Tweety said:

On a side note, I took notice that she's 45.

That's not old. 

Also, if they would stop punishing legit chronic pain people as part of the "opioid epidemic" they might not be tempted to do stuff like this-I am not defending what she did in ANY way-she admitted it and surrendered her license. 

 

[Emergent, RN]

This sort of drug diversion is abhorrent to me. It's one thing to indulge in recreational drugs that aren't approved by the Boards of Nursing or the government. Drug diversion that denies a patient pain medication is a whole other story. I have a low opinion of people who can't resist stealing from vulnerable patients.

[No Stars In My Eyes]

I once knew a nurse who would draw up the patient's pain med from a glass snap-off container, and she would 'save' the additional med by putting it in a syringe, and setting that aside. Then when she had to 'waste' the supposed add'l med from the container, she would fill that amount of saline in the container she was wasting, hold it up for some other nurse to see, and sing out, "wasting a narc!"....and the other nurse signed it off as wasted. It was a surprise to a lot of us when she got caught, but she nailed her own coffin by going  into the nurse's restroom and shooting up on her thighs or the back of her upper arms, in the middle of the shift! When she came out, she was taken aside by a supervisor, who had noticed she had pin-point pupils and a couple of bruises on her upper arms Never heard from her again. Very sad.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

No Stars In My Eyes said:

I once knew a nurse who would draw up the patient's pain med from a glass snap-off container, and she would 'save' the additional med by putting it in a syringe, and setting that aside. Then when she had to 'waste' the supposed add'l med from the container, she would fill that amount of saline in the container she was wasting, hold it up for some other nurse to see, and sing out, "wasting a narc!"....and the other nurse signed it off as wasted. It was a surprise to a lot of us when she got caught, but she nailed her own coffin by going  into the nurse's restroom and shooting up on her thighs or the back of her upper arms, in the middle of the shift! When she came out, she was taken aside by a supervisor, who had noticed she had pin-point pupils and a couple of bruises on her upper arms Never heard from her again. Very sad.

Despite all the protocols and the Pyxis , there is unlimited opportunity to obtain narcs. I was charge nurse on a busy 30 bed unit. A nurse went over my head and called supervision, saying her assignment was too heavy.  It was not.. she just couldn't handle it because she was high. That supervisor chastised ME and told me to change the assignment. Not to long after that, she was taken out in handcuffs for stealing narcs.  Kudos to that supervisor for being so vigilant. I wish I had been. 

[toomuchbaloney]

I think many of us have worked with health professionals who have had substance abuse struggles.  It's easy to get caught if the substances are readily available while OTJ. 

@Tweety your comment was well written, wise and full of grace.  IMHO

 

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Hmmm....I thought Demerol was gone long before 2019

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

traumaRUs said:

Hmmm....I thought Demerol was gone long before 2019

PACU uses it for riggers post op here.  But it's not used as a first line defense for pain.  It's not banned.