Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced on March 6, 2023, that his office had obtained a guilty plea in a case against a 46-year-old woman who unlawfully possessed fentanyl. As a first time offender, she will serve two years of probation in which she must perform 30 hours of community service, submit to drug treatment and testing, and pay $3,500 for fines and fees. Additionally, she can no longer have employment with access to controlled substances.
In November 2021, the woman worked as a nurse at a medical center in Marion, Illinois, where she diverted several doses of fentanyl from the facility’s medication dispensing machine. Following an Illinois State Police investigation, she was arrested in November 2022 and confessed to the unlawful possession of fentanyl.
“The opioid epidemic has tragically affected too many people in Illinois, and we must take a comprehensive approach to addressing it,” Raoul said. “I am committed to holding accountable individuals who distribute fentanyl in our communities. Healthcare professionals who have access to addictive controlled substances must be held responsible for misusing them.”
Compliance Perspective
Issue
Failure to prevent diversion of residents’ prescribed controlled medications by staff who sell or take the drugs for their personal use may be considered abuse, neglect, misappropriation, and fraud, in violation of state and federal regulations. Staff who divert medications have developed a number of ways to conceal diversion. Facilities should implement a proactive diversion-prevention program which identifies the types of medications most likely to be taken, signs that diversion has taken place, and signs of impairment.
Discussion Points
- Review your policies and procedures on preventing, identifying, and responding to drug diversion. Update as needed.
- Train appropriate staff on actions that can be taken to prevent, identify, and respond to any suspicion of drug diversion. Provide education on the impact of drug diversion on residents as a form of abuse and neglect, staff responsibility to report concerns immediately, and the consequences of theft of controlled substances. Document that the trainings occurred, and place the signed document in each employee’s education file.
- Periodically audit to ensure that all controlled substances are accounted for each shift, and that proper documentation of controlled substances has occurred. Include your consultant pharmacist in this effort.
*This news alert has been prepared by Med-Net Concepts, LLC for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal advice.*
