A suburban Chicago nurse has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for removing morphine prescribed to patients and replacing it with another liquid. Sarah Diamond was employed as the Assistant Director of Nursing at a Chicago-area medical rehabilitation center, where she was responsible for dispensing medications to patients, including those in hospice care. In the summer of 2021, Diamond removed morphine from bottles that had been prescribed to at least five patients to manage their pain and replaced it with another liquid, knowing the diluted substance would be dispensed. Diamond removed the morphine for her own personal use and with reckless disregard and extreme indifference for the risk that the patients would be placed in danger of bodily injury. In at least one instance, a patient’s family members observed the patient suffering during what would end up being some of the final moments before dying. Diamond, 31, of Woodstock, Ill., pleaded guilty last year to a federal charge of tampering with a consumer product. US District Judge Manish S. Shah imposed the sentence Wednesday during a hearing in federal court in Chicago.
