A former nurse was sentenced in federal court in Boston for diverting opioids from a Boston-area hospital. Andrea Falzano, 39, of Winchester, was sentenced to three months in prison and one year of supervised release. In August 2023, Falzano pleaded guilty to three counts of unlawfully obtaining controlled substances by fraud, deception, and subterfuge. Beginning in May 2019, Falzano used her capacity as a nurse in the emergency department at a Massachusetts based hospital to withdraw controlled substances from a locked drug cabinet. These substances included morphine, fentanyl and hydromorphone, all of which are opioids and Schedule II controlled substances. In total, Falzano withdrew these substances 412 times for 299 already discharged patients over an approximately five-month period. Negative drug tests uncovered during the investigation indicated that Falzano did not self-administer the drugs that she stole from the hospital at which she was employed, despite stating otherwise to her employer and the Board of Registration in Nursing. In statements to the Board, Falzano attempted to minimize her conduct by calling her theft of controlled substances an “isolated incident,” which it was not.
