A nurse will spend a few months in prison after using a syringe to steal fentanyl from a sedated, critical care patient in Massachusetts, federal prosecutors say.
When the nurse inserted the syringe into the patient’s IV bag linked to their bloodstream, she could have contaminated it — potentially exposing them to infections and diseases at Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, according to court documents. Officials say the patient was unaware when the nurse walked in their room to steal the liquid drug.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid about 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine and used to treat patients with severe pain. It can be highly addictive, and illegal use of the drug has been linked to the rise in overdose deaths in the U.S., according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
The registered nurse, 37, of Pittsfield, was sentenced to three months in prison on Feb. 17, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts announced in a news release. After serving prison time, she will be supervised for a year as part of her sentencing.
Her attorney Alexander Sohn told McClatchy News on Feb. 21 that she is taking responsibility for her actions and is focused on “being her best self, going forward.”
“She has dedicated the vast majority of her adult life to helping others, and truly personifies the expression: Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done,” Sohn said.
Prosecutors ultimately argued for a lesser sentence, saying that while the patient is definitely the victim in this case — and the crime committed is more serious than a nurse stealing pills from a hospital — this was a single offense unlike other similar cases.
“She did not attempt to tamper with the patient’s IV bag by replacing the fentanyl with another substance, as did many of the defendants who received lengthy prison sentences,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo.
They noted nine recent cases of Massachusetts nurses receiving lengthier sentences related to tampering with patients’ drugs, including how one Massachusetts nurse was sentenced to five years in prison after prosecutors said she tampered with 17 bottles of morphine meant for patients.
In court documents, Sohn detailed the woman’s prior struggles with drug addiction and how, within 48 hours of a fellow nurse catching her stealing the patient’s fentanyl in February 2019, she started detoxing with the help of her psychiatrist.
After attending support groups and recovering from her addiction, she was allowed to return to work again, Sohn wrote.
However, federal officials eventually learned of the fentanyl theft and began their investigation, according to Sohn. As a result, the hospital asked her to resign, according to Sohn, who wrote that his client learned she was being investigated in May 2021.
Prior to this, she had worked at a nursing home during the “height” of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2020, Sohn said.
In May 2022, she pleaded guilty to one count of acquiring a controlled substance by fraud, deceit or subterfuge, prosecutors said.
Ahead of her sentencing, 23 letters written by family, co-workers, friends and more were written on behalf of the woman’s character,, court documents show.
The director of the nursing home she worked at described how she “jumped in” as patients were “panic-stricken” over the spread of COVID-19, according to the director’s letter.