Unfrickenbelievable!

Published

I'm a nurse supervisor for a pediatric home health agency. We just fired and reported a nurse for the following: (this will blow your mind!)

1. She has worked with Pt. A for 5 yrs and attends school with her...every summer the mom would tell her she doesn't need to work but she can write up her daily notes and she would sign them. Basically she was clocking 30 hrs a week for the entire summer (and holidays) but wasn't working at all! She did this for 5 summers.

2. Pt. B...the mother let her come pick up the child and watch her at her own house. On one occasion she left the sleeping child alone so she could run to the corner store. She also allegedly stole various household items such as candles, pic frames, ate her food, and stole items the mom sells on an online boutique.

There's no telling what else she's done. WOW!

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

Wow!!!!!

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Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
I'm a nurse supervisor for a pediatric home health agency. We just fired and reported a nurse for the following: (this will blow your mind!)

1. She has worked with Pt. A for 5 yrs and attends school with her...every summer the mom would tell her she doesn't need to work but she can write up her daily notes and she would sign them. Basically she was clocking 30 hrs a week for the entire summer (and holidays) but wasn't working at all! She did this for 5 summers.

2. Pt. B...the mother let her come pick up the child and watch her at her own house. On one occasion she left the sleeping child alone so she could run to the corner store. She also allegedly stole various household items such as candles, pic frames, ate her food, and stole items the mom sells on an online boutique.

There's no telling what else she's done. WOW!

I wanna say I'm shocked with the first one, but I'm not. I've heard of nurses doing that. The last PDN case I worked one of the nurses also took the patient to their house.

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I have known of several, yes, several, nurses who document hours worked when they were nowhere near the client's home. On more than one occasion, I have been approached by client family members to engage in this type of fraud. Whenever I get told to go home early "go ahead and put your usual time", I lose wages because I insist on being honest. Every time the subject comes up, I reteach the family member about fraud. They insist that the other nurse does it and does not get in trouble, etc. etc. I am certain that the last time I left a case was because the mother was insisting on the fraud and a new weekend nurse was only too happy to oblige her, with my weekday hours as her reward.

What is truly disgusting is the lack of action on the part of the agencies when the fraud is reported. The agency terminates the person doing the reporting while allowing the people committing the fraud to continue with a pat on the back.

Your situation is only the second, among many instances, that I know of, where the agency has taken action against the fraud.

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This is unfortantely very normal. A mother asked me if I "clocked" hours could we split the money. I never went back to that case.

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Specializes in Home Health, PDN, LTC, subacute.
This is unfortantely very normal. A mother asked me if I "clocked" hours could we split the money. I never went back to that case.

I think you can get jail time for this. FRAUD! Good for you for leaving the case.

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Specializes in kids.

Eeks! That is crazy, but you know what they say "God is great, Beer is good and People are crazy!"

oh nevermind, that is the name of a country song!!!!

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

Gads! What if something had happened? FIVE YEARS of fraudulent time slips and documentation! What a lot of gall! Totally unprofessional.....And how very, very stupid of her as well.

Who discovered it? What were the circumstances that led to her being exposed?

And about the mother who wanted to split the pay for the claimed work, the hours that were fraudulent....I am speechless!

I did know of a mother and daughter who did PD with old folks through our agency, and the son who 'helped out' old folks free-lance;

they had quite a scam going.... stealing cash, jewelry, drugs. They were always wearing diamond jewelry and driving gorgeous cars, but lived in a housing project.

When they caught wind of a patient who was suspicious of them and asked not to have them assigned to her anymore, they left the agency. and took their 'business' elsewhere. I used to watch the newspapers all the time, expecting they would be caught. But, as far as I know they are still operating as usual and just being lauded by many for the 'kindness of their hearts." (SNORT!)

There is a front row seat in hell for folks like that. I really wish they would trip up somehow so that hardcore evidence could make a case against them.

I hate it when people give our profession a bad reputation.

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They can trip all over themselves and it does no good if those with the legal responsibility to report and deal with them refuse to do so.

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

Yup. They seem to have a knack for picking 'clients' who are at a disadvantage , like no family, or are timid, trusting old souls. There was, I believe, a couple who actually said they didn't want to 'get them in trouble', and refused to press charges.

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Specializes in LTC Rehab Med/Surg.

It's a relief to discover I'm not too old and jaded to be shocked by something.

Five years!

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Specializes in hospice.

Isn't that medicaid fraud? Can't it get a nurse banned from ever working for an organization that takes government money?

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