Moving forward, you could just list dates of employment unless the application forces an answer, such as "Were you ever terminated?" Our fees are flat, so there are never any surprises and never any additional fees to us. These se things can all lead to you either losing the med or actually being accused of diversion. Chapman Law Group has a team of attorneys skilled in representing licensed health professionals in state, federal, and administrative courts during trials and administrative hearings. For more on investigations, click here. Healthcare providers are in very stressful jobs, Hayes says. Often the reports they generate as to the errors are so complex and confusing that these errors and deceptions are not immediately noticeable. Nurse Sentenced in Drug Diversion and Tampering Scheme. You want to try to find them before that.. Toni Martin, 34, of . Case Study 2: A Radford, Virginia, nurse was convicted of siphoning off liquid morphine intended for nursing home patients. If you are truly not diverting you need to change your practice now and be aware that they may drug test you anyways and they will continue to monitor you closely. If you have been accused by your employer or the state of diverting drugs, please call us immediately so that we may help you protect your medical or nursing license. If they cant prove diversion, but can only prove a few charting errors, you are in much better shape. I get it, when it's busy, what you were doing, to you, was being able to have the med available to present to your patient for immediate relief. Explore. If you were only warned, it sounds like your manager is trying to give you a gentle warning nudge to change your practice. It also dictates how the substances are dispensed, and a facility may be fined if it does not comply. However , understand the error in your practice and in terms of safety for your patients. We had a nurse who was highly suspected of diverting, he says. While street drugs remain popular, an influx of new prescription pain medications in the late 1990s helped to fuel an opioid epidemic that killed 50,000 Americans in 2019 alone. chris camozzi musician. Kasey Leigh Travis has been charged with six counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud or deceit, failure to make keep or furnish records, furnishing false or fraudulent information and. HCMC has cameras set up in the medication room to monitor controlled substances, and Leon watched as the nurse began gathering prescribed medication for a patient in the emergency department. The opioid addiction in America has lit my practice on fire, she says. If you are diverting medication you need to get help. Not always! She made me wait another 3 weeks for my new dose. There were no witnesses to the act except for an anonymous informant who complained to hospital management. Author, "Your Last Nursing Class: How to Land Your First Nursing Job"and your next! These investigators are police officers with all the rights and abilities of police officers to conduct an investigation. and three counts of false statements related to health care matters. Even though the accusations may be unfair and untrue, the situation is real. People who are falsely accused tend to get angry --which makes others believe that they are indeed guilty. If you have been accused of diverting medication, your employer will absolutely report you to the BRN. There is much more on these accusations in the blog, make sure to familiarize yourself with what these terms mean and what the outcome can be. We found out through the course of investigations that if someone resigns and was not sanctioned it may not be a reportable action, he says. If the diverter has a license from one of those state agencies, usually its required that they be reported, and then its up to the board how they proceed with the personal license of the individual, he says. Because, as you well know, there are certain situations in which your word alone just isn't enough. Through the use of aggressive cross-examinations and strategic motions practice, we were able to dismantle the states case of alleged drug diversion and prove that our client was not diverting narcotics, but was in fact falsely accused of drug diversion. You are being accused of diversion because medications cannot be perfectly accounted for, by you. The nurse was terminated, referred to HPRP, and a complaint was lodged with theState of Michigan, Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA). To be honest - your facility is right to raise red flags on you as your behavior is similar to people who divert medications. There is no overarching agency or organization that records every instance of drug diversion in the United States. Drug and Alcohol Complaints Before the Missouri Board of Nursing Allegations involving drugs or alcohol are among the most common reasons nurses receive complaints from the Board of Nursing. you were incompetent or negligent in your charting. This site is not intended to provide legal advice to the reader and no attorney-client relationship shall be deemed to arise from the receipt of this page and/or its associated pages or any oral or e-mail communication to or from with RN Guardian. I would definitely think about changing your practice. I am trying not to get upset but it's truly difficult. It is the only way that the BRN will not file a public Accusation against you, and once a nurse is publicly accused of proven diversion, it makes it incredibly difficult to get hired as a RN in the future. Department of Justice investigator Mark Myrdek (left) sits on the stand. Similarly, it is important to rotate who delivers the drugs to the patient floors. Since 1997, allnurses is trusted by nurses around the globe. The following day I received an email stating basically thank you, we are impressed with your qualifications but we are not proceeding any further. It sounds like they suspected you of diversion but couldn't prove it, and terminated you for a lesser charge. There is much more on these accusations in the blog, make sure to familiarize yourself with what these terms mean and what the outcome can be. We successfully negotiated an arrangement to permit immediate reinstatement of the RNs license following assessment by a mental health professional deeming our client safe with probation. Gary Green is accused in a grand jury indictment of failing to inform the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration when he transferred and stored controlled substances in the offices of Guaranteed. on Tuesday, 04 August 2015. In one alleged incident, Bridges said she withdrew 100 micrograms of fentanyl, went to the bathroom, then administered half of the drug and disposed of the rest, sending a paper copy of the disposal to a separate department. Being condemned as guilty evoked the shame of being falsely accused, disrespected, and bad. However, if youve done any research, you may think that youll have to mortgage your house or cash out your 401K because fees can run in the tens of thousands. Hospital staff called the pattern unusual. Seek support. In one especially egregious case, a traveling medical technician with hepatitis C would inject himself with his patients fentanyl and refill the same syringe with saline, ultimately spreading the virus to at least 30 people in two states. If you have to surrender yourself in Court, so be it. Susan Hayes has been a private detective for healthcare facilities for more than a decade and says the opioid epidemic has magnified the drug diversion problem in recent years. I was accused at my former job of drug diversion and let go. . Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN. Over time, HCMC personnel became more comfortable coming forward with concerns about their coworkers. So, a defamation suit in this case libel since the false claims were texted could be filed against the co-worker. PUBLISHED: November 17, 2012 at 12:00 a.m. | UPDATED: September 11, 2018 at 12:00 a.m. A state licensing board and the Attorney General"s Office have accused a vocational nurse of diverting . Every case is different and each case must be evaluated and handled on its own merits. Although more people are paying attention to drug diversion due to recent high-profile cases and the current opioid epidemic in the United States, experts say they have been dealing with the same problems their entire careers. I have known a nurse who would fill the medication vial with normal saline after taking out the narcotics and injected the normal saline while injecting the drug im into herself. I see a lot of doctors standing around and Im thinking uh oh, this patient is going to get saline.. Protect yourself and do not give the employer or the future BRN investigation all they need to unequivocally prove diversion. Allegations of diversion always stem from charting issues, always. Nurses who work in high paced intensive or critical care units or the emergency room are at particular risk of false allegations based simply on common charting errors. There can also be false negatives because an opioid is simply prescribed in too low of a dose to be detected. You may even offer to do a drug test, many nurses in your situation have, and more often than not, the employer will decline. Prescription drug use by medical personnel and drug diversion by health care providers has risen to epidemic proportions and become a significant public health issue. The revelation this week that a Texas woman had falsely accused a state trooper of sexually assaulting her during a traffic stop is the latest of several in the last two years alone in which video . Posted in Registered Nurses, THE PROBLEM OF FALSE AND MISLEADING ACCUSATIONS AGAINST MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS. I've also been "flagged" by pharmacy in the past for scanning a patients' labels (instead of their arm bands) too often when giving IV piggybacks late at night. Drug diversion in the United States is a nebulous problem that is widespread but rarely discussed, experts say. Our policy here (and I believe this comes from state regulation) is that controlled meds have to be given within 30 minutes of being pulled. I was then sent for a urine drug screen and breathalyzer. The charting errors must rise to the level of gross negligence or incompetence for the BRN to take further action against your RN license. Create well-written care plans that meets your patient's health goals. They told me to cut it out, and I did. Wholesalers can even stop the flow of medication to pharmacies if they believe diversion is occurringwhich can be disastrous to a trauma center, Hayes notes. Your attorney can advise you about how best to handle this entire matter, including the false confession. Yes, you may well be "flagged" in their system as a "Do not hire". I worked in an ER as an LPN from 2000-2007, graduated RN and began my RN career at the same ER in 2007 until I was terminated in 2009. Cardinal Health, Walgreens supplier, was charged $34 million for failing to report suspicious sales of painkillers. Please spend some time reading the Diversion section of the blog, for more information. Here is an update of the Massachusetts Crime Lab Scandal: In June, 2011, allegations of misconduct at the William A. Hinton State Laboratory Institute in Jamaica Plain (Hinton drug lab) surfaced regarding work performed by Annie Dookhan, a chemist who had been employed in the forensic drug laboratory since November 2003. Pharmacists can make mistakes that mean life or death. In 2010, hydrocodone prescriptions were filled 131.2 million times at retail pharmacies alone, making it the most commonly prescribed medication, according to the Mayo Clinic. Clearly it wasn't a one time incident either. Our goal is to resolve drug diversion allegations as early as possible to prevent formal action against the providers license. Has 14 years experience. Hayes says that she typically gathers evidence and gets a confession from diverters, at which point her client calls in law enforcement to arrest them. Fast forward to your recent interview in a different health care system. Should the false accusation take a turn and your employer believes the false statement, you could have a case for a defamation lawsuit. I know your aware moving forward you will pull pts meds when you are about to administer them; you will have to prioritize what needs to be done afterwards-if you are able to delegate, so be it, if not during staffing, learn to cluster care and try to be mindful to anticipate who needs meds, what pts may need what supplies if they are having frequent code browns, what can a confused pt have as activities to help prevent a fall, etc., so you won't feel the need to carry meds on your person when your pt doesn't need them; ask for assistance as far as strategies for seasoned coworkers as well. So, calendar your case and appear in court. There are medical boards, nursing boards, pharmacy boards, and not every worker even falls under some sort of licensing board for that state. . Designed to give you the foundational knowledge and skills you need to become a more dynamic security professional, including EP specific threat and risk assessment, protective intelligence, advance planning and more. I was wondering if anyone has any experience of being falsely accused of med diversion due to giving meds 1-2 hours after pulling them out of the pyxis. 1700 Glendale, CA 91203 | 1-818-501-8600Copyright 2010-2012 Spiga & Associates. She said she routinely visited the break room to grab a snack, check her cell phone or use the staff restroom inside, which she assumed was cleaner than the public ones. This can result in several types of patient harm, including: Illinois dentist accused of diverting patients' anesthesia drug for personal use Phillip Jensen, 61, was arrested Monday on eight counts of drug diversion, eight counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, one count of tampering with consumer products, and three counts of false statements related to health care matters. In a few cases, we have even had a nurse accused of diverting because they GAVE more medication than other nurses never mind that they were working tons of overtime, so of course they were giving more! I will spend as much time as you need listening to the details of your specific case, confidentially and without judgment. Bridges testified that she was never once questioned by hospital officials about the discrepancies or given the chance to submit to a drug test. They do occasionally make arrests but they are rare. tag_id.innerHTML = ''; This process takes about a year from the conclusion of the interview, during which time youve been great at your new job without so much as an undotted i or uncrossed t. avg rating 4.27 5,457,050 ratings published 1960. HR continues to harras me and even mention that my director could have given me a heads up 2 hours before I was to report in for a meeting in which I knew nothing about. The paper record was never found, but Bridges said it would not have been the first time that the hospital lost one of her paper records in translation, she said. Your employer will also probably not require a drug test. She recalled having been told eating at the nurses stations was against protocol. NOTHING else. It would be right before the procedure that I pull it, and I would waste the unused portion right after the procedure is done. Even if I have a pt. Other hospitals may prohibit nurses from carrying medication in their pockets to prevent theft or switching. If your reputation is under attack, Dr. Phil has advice on taking your power back: Accept that there is no way you can erase what has happened. Areas of Law:Nursing License DefenseDrug DiversionSummary Suspension of Nursing LicenseAdministrative Hearings and ComplaintsHealth Professionals Recovery Program (HPRP). Some medications can also trigger false positives for an illicit drug. However, they typically do not carry guns, wear uniforms or flash their badge. She might have left them in the patients' med drawers. Controlled substance management is dictated by a number of laws, including the U.S. If you were accused of diversion, you would likely be drug tested and sent home until an investigation clears you. Today a woman from the finnish customs called me saying its narcotics, she asked me if it was me who ordered the narcotics saying that that way i wont get into much trouble and it will be easier but if i deny ordering them i would have to go to the police station for a court hearing so they can get my statement and decide what to do. Illinois dentist accused of diverting patients' anesthesia drug for personal use. [Recommended Reading: Whos Liable for an Active Shooter Incident? Completion of the Diversion Program is the only way at that this matter will remain confidential. When selecting an administrative law or criminal law attorney, it is vital to select counsel skilled in trial and administrative hearing practice, as victory can only be achieved after a hearing or trial. Once a drug is outside of the closed loop, when it gets dispensed from a pharmacy or administered by a doctor, its no longer in the purview of DEA rules and regulations, he explains. Not just security personnel should be involved with the diversion aspect, he says. [5] Take the initiative and invite someone out for coffee who you haven't seen in a while. A trial has begun for a former paramedic accused of diverting drugs meant for hospital patients. This complaint / report initiates a disciplinary investigation. Posted in Registered Nurses THE PROBLEM OF FALSE AND MISLEADING ACCUSATIONS AGAINST MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS Virtually every healthcare practitioner has seen a colleague fired or disciplined after being accused of diverting drugs or misusing their prescription pad. A few weeks later I received a letter from the BON stating basically that they did not find any reason to discipline me and that my license was in good standing! , ASIS International We show them a box full of clean drug tests. I am a physician who has been falsely accused of drug diversion, given mandatory fmla and inpatient addiction evaluation versus being fired. Puts patients at risk for healthcare-associated infections. Virtually every healthcare practitioner has seen a colleague fired or disciplined after being accused of diverting drugs or misusing their prescription pad. Perhaps you failed to properly waste a med. False accusations can cause a lingering sense of damage, or can push a relationship into a crisis. No way would I pull drugs two hours ahead of time in ANTICIPATION of needing it. Sabrina Thalblum . Design: Artsteez, THE PROBLEM OF FALSE ACCUSATIONS AGAINST NURSES. Allegations of diversion always stem from charting issues, always. Carrying it around in your pocket is just asking for trouble. They pull out meds and "hold" them or document as given but take them themselves or take them home. If youre both ordering and putting away drugs, thats a bad thing because you can order six bottles when you only need five and keep one for yourself, Hayes notes. I was falsely accused of drug diversion. I will tell you whether Diversion is the only way to save your career. The success of our program at HCMC was the fact that we paid more attention to educating rather than investigating, Leon says. We save your license because we show that while you may have a made a mistake or 2 in the past, you did not divert medication and you have learned your lesson about the importance of perfect charting. Weve made it our career to save yours. DEA will look at these recordkeeping forms and determine if in fact everything has been filled out correctly, that they have been keeping good records, he says. By using the site you agree to our Privacy, Cookies, and Terms of Service Policies. While filing a complaint with the BRN is not mandated by law . Theres a lot of people investigators really suspected were diverters but had to be chalked up to sloppy practice due to a lack of concrete evidence, so any statistic is talking about known diverters who are fired for diversion, she tellsSecurity Management. 500North Hollywood, CA 91601 T. (818) 287-0576, 6841 Energy CourtSuite 120Sarasota, FL 34240T. allnurses is a Nursing Career & Support site for Nurses and Students. A Georgia man who was busted for shoplifting at a Walmart found himself in even more trouble when officers found 37 pounds of marijuana in his trunk, according to the Morgan Citizen. At this point, Leon knew exactly what was going on, and watched with increasing alarm as the nurse headed to a patients room in the orthopedic area of the hospital. Choosing a specialty can be a daunting task and we made it easier. 248.644.6326F. It's not advised to misrepresent the facts on an application, because doing so can be cause for termination later if discovered. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Markus Rashad Tull, 28, was arrested at a Morgan County Walmart on Saturday after he was accused of "skip scanning" items in the self- checkout lane. Mitchell points to algorithmic software that can identify a potential diverter long before their peers could. I was ultimately terminated for documenting issues. Maybe in can be shown by other witness testimony that he had the drugs.The only way a warrantcan be out for your arrest is ifa Complaint was filed. Result:After successfully arguing our case, the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) promptly dissolved the summary suspension of the clients nursing license that day and delivered a favorable proposal to the Board of Nursing. All Rights Reserved. 1-612-816-8773. allnurses Copyright allnurses.com LLC. These are: hire a defense attorney, NEW! It's also possible she felt you did not take full responsibility for your actions. You will be reported. Is it possible to be a decent nurse if I'm a sociopath or have antisocial personality disorder? They asked me, Are 13 vials substantial or not? The plain and honest truth is that I did not have several narcotic wastes witnessed by another nurse, as there was no one immediately in the area to assist me on several occasions. Unless you haven't been completely forthcoming, then there's something shady going on. The Investigation is where the BRN finds the proof that you diverted. Those are the highly frustrating results of a new study from researchers at Harvard.. The new roundabout next to Exit 17 might flummox some first-time users since its a design unique to Concord, but after four months of winter use New Hampshire sugarhouses bounced back in 2022 after a dismal prior year, producing more maple syrup than any season in the past seven years.The U Kerry Bridges (right) sits next to her attorney, Jim Moir, in Concords district court on Tuesday. Perhaps you were falsely accused as a result of the appearance of wrongdoing that was misconstrued by an observer. I have been beyond frustrated with the work environment and now I am being falsely accused of this. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has also brought charges against California pharmacists for violating the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act ("CMEA") portion of the CSA citing diversion of a significant amount of controlled substances, failure to control the pharmacies' inventory of . The people who are your real problem are the people who are hiding in the weeds, not doing enough to get caught, and those are the ones you want to find, Mitchell says. Mitchell points out that any statistic derived from officially collected data still wouldnt accurately reflect the extent of drug diversion in the United States. (NICK REID / Monitor staff) Hi. The Board accepted the ALJs proposed decision and dismissed the entire drug diversion complaint. Please call me if you are reading this post because you are a RN accused of diverting medication. You were cleared of everything, yet it's all coming back and keeping you from getting hired. var tag_id = document.getElementById('buylinkBridgesTestimony-CM-051916,ph02'); Find out your top seven security news stories, delivered to your inbox weekly, and powered by ASIS International. Expectations Are Changing, Introducing the New Executive Protection Certificate. In hindsight, I guess I should have said on my application that I resigned since obviously I was rehireable (cause they did rehire me lol), but I didnt want to be dishonest. Im sorry this is so long but I wanted you to have the full story. Its no secret that opioid addiction has reached epidemic levels in the United States. I was falsely accused of drug diversion. We frequently defend nurses and doctors accused of diverting drugs. I hired a lawyer, and went through all the steps to have this . We were successful in achieving both of these goals. I didn't take my stimulant the day of my follow-up because it was my day off, and I stupidly thought my doctor would prescribe me something else that same day. Disclaimer:This information is a sample of our past results. Rather than return the med immediately, I hold onto it until they need it so I am prepared for the next time. So what should you do if faced with an accusations concerning your charting errors and or alleged diversion of narcotics or other drugs? Regardless of the reason, if you are a pharmacist who is accused of either of these violations, it can result in disciplinary action against your license by the California State Board of Pharmacy (CBP). our Last Nursing Class: How to Land Your First Nursing Job"and your next! Home Accused of Diverting Drugs. Pharmacies. They want me to come in instead of DEA or law enforcement, she explains. Do not pocket or store anymore drugs in anticipation of needing them later. Fudin says fentanyl may not show up on an opiate screen because it has a different chemical structure compared to most commonly prescribed opioids. Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac. Dont start dialing that 1800 number just yet we can help! After receiving the complaint, the Board of Nursing issued an Order of Summary Suspension pursuant to MCL 333.16231 for drug diversion. I was heartbroken as I really wanted this position! Take the extra 5 minutes to pull med school per policy. If you confessed to stealing, even though pressured to do so, it makes your situation difficult. So I chalked it up to a learning experience and got another job, in fact, I have had NO issues in finding employment and about 7 years after being terminated I was RE-HIRED into the same hospital system that had terminated me in 2009! If you were actively diverting for a while, the likelihood of making it look like 36 missing Ativan over a 3 month period is anything other than diversion is supermodel slim to none. These Accusations always call for revocation of the RN license, but in the thousands of cases we have defended, this has happened only twice to our clients (remember that earlier, super- subtle plug about the amazing attorney?) Please Note: The statements and information provided on this website are for informational purposes only. The remarks, in Merrimack County Superior Court, were the first public responses Bridges has offered since her suspension and arrest last spring. That doesnt help. She never said she put meds in her pocket or on her person. If somebody wants to steal or becomes addicted, they are going to find a way to do it, and sooner or later they are going to get caught, but then theres a problem because the hospital has to work backwards to determine how much was stolen and reconcile all that, he says. Fast forward to your recent interview in a different health care system. One pharmacy in Florida went from ordering 95,800 pills in 2009 to 2.2 million pills in 2011, according to the DEA. Bridges was accused of misconduct in 2014 by Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, but it was never raised Wednesday in court. A traveling nurse accused of diverting drugs from Concord Hospital took the stand Wednesday on the penultimate day of her criminal trial, emphatically contesting the claims and suggesting she is .
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