Dawn Drum, 54, Janesville, Wisconsin, was sentenced to 15 months in prison, 1 year of supervised release, and fined $30,000 due and payable immediately. On May 8, 2023, Drum pleaded guilty to one count of product tampering while employed as a Registered Nurse at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in Janesville in November 2021. Drum tampered with vials of fentanyl by withdrawing the drug from the vials and replacing it with saline and then resealing the vial stopper with what appeared to be superglue. Drum then put the tampered vials back into the Pyxis machine, an automated medication dispensing system, so that the tampered fentanyl vials would be available for use with other patients at the hospital. An audit of the Pyxis transactions in Drum’s name revealed that she had an excessive pattern of fentanyl overrides and wastes when compared to other employees in 2021. When confronted by hospital management in November 2021 with this discrepancy, and asked to take a drug test, Drum refused and instead resigned from her position at the hospital.
