That's where all the bogus charges came from. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Markus Rashad Tull, 28, was arrested at a Morgan County Walmart on Saturday after he was accused of "skip scanning" items in the self- checkout lane. I am on a floor where there aren't any CNAs at times, nor a resource RN and sometimes no unit clerk and every minute counts. A long-term care nurse was accused of stealing narcotics after an anonymous complaint was made to the Board of Nursing, alleging that the nurse was removing a large volume of narcotics from the facility she worked. Posted in Registered Nurses THE PROBLEM OF FALSE AND MISLEADING ACCUSATIONS AGAINST MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS Virtually every healthcare practitioner has seen a colleague fired or disciplined after being accused of diverting drugs or misusing their prescription pad. This may be the case with some law firms, but it is not the case with us. They all have problems. In this instance it helps to have a lawyer. //var LBtag_id = document.getElementById('buylinkLBBridgesTestimony-CM-051916,ph02'); 7. Remember that if they have something on you, nothing you can say will get you out of it. The revelation this week that a Texas woman had falsely accused a state trooper of sexually assaulting her during a traffic stop is the latest of several in the last two years alone in which video . Unfortunately, there are different laws and statutes in every state that set up some sort of reporting requirements, he says. This is something that is probably happening but were not finding it, he says. He kept a trained eye on one registered nurse who was suspected of stealing hydromorphone, an opioid pain medication, for her personal use. We had a nurse who was highly suspected of diverting, he says. Now hang on a minute. Please spend some time reading the Diversion section of the blog, for more information. The plain and honest truth is that I did not have several narcotic wastes witnessed by another nurse, as there was no one immediately in the area to assist me on several occasions. She never said she put meds in her pocket or on her person. 1,509 Posts. If you are a registered nurse and have been recently accused of diverting medication, there are only 2 scenarios: 1.) on Tuesday, 04 August 2015. who 'always' asks for the PRN right at the moment it is due, I would not pull it out. False accusations can cause a lingering sense of damage, or can push a relationship into a crisis. Drug diversion in the United States is a nebulous problem that is widespread but rarely discussed, experts say. Because of this, diversion shouldnt be considered just a security concern but a patient safety concern, Cichon says. Very understaffed working place. Lady Luck (Colorado Mountain, #3) by. If you have been falsely accused of a crime, you need a lawyer to help plan and present your defense. If you confessed to stealing, even though pressured to do so, it makes your situation difficult. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has also brought charges against California pharmacists for violating the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act ("CMEA") portion of the CSA citing diversion of a significant amount of controlled substances, failure to control the pharmacies' inventory of . The process, called wasting, requires the healthcare worker to take a fresh vial or syringe full of medication and then dispose of the excess, leaving only the correct dosageall with a witness present. Even if you did have a statistic, it would be off because how do you incorporate those so-called sloppy practicers, or diverters who thought they were about to get caught so they quit on you and left? USA, Whos Liable for an Active Shooter Incident? Controlled substance management is dictated by a number of laws, including the U.S. A single addicted health care worker who resorts to "drug diversion," the official term for stealing drugs, can endanger thousands. Rate this book. Cardinal Health, Walgreens supplier, was charged $34 million for failing to report suspicious sales of painkillers. We have defended thousands of RNs facing the BRN. Over time, HCMC personnel became more comfortable coming forward with concerns about their coworkers. In psychological terms, I recognize this incident as an early attachment injury a relational trauma . A facility that identifies a diversion problem might bring in any combination of players, from private investigators and local law enforcement to state accreditation boards or the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory. Taking data such as medicine cabinet access, shift hours, time to waste, and departmental access allows software to identify anomalies, such as a nurse whose time to waste is often high, or a doctor who accesses patients files after they have been discharged. Nurses who work in high paced intensive or critical care units or the emergency room are at particular risk of false allegations based simply on common charting errors. This study guide will help you focus your time on what's most important. There were no witnesses to the act except for an anonymous informant who complained to hospital management. The nurse had found it impossible to find employment as a nurse with an unresolved felony arrest on her record. (NICK REID / Monitor staff), Support the I was brought to a conference room after a night shift in 2009. and three counts of false statements related to health care matters. Drugs are most likely to be diverted during those times when they are in transit or exchanging hands, outside of the closed loop. She recalled having been told eating at the nurses stations was against protocol. Prescription drug use by medical personnel and drug diversion by health care providers has risen to epidemic proportions and become a significant public health issue. Puts patients at risk for healthcare-associated infections. However, they typically do not carry guns, wear uniforms or flash their badge. Designed to give you the foundational knowledge and skills you need to become a more dynamic security professional, including EP specific threat and risk assessment, protective intelligence, advance planning and more. By using the site you agree to our Privacy, Cookies, and Terms of Service Policies. 1700 Glendale, CA 91203 | 1-818-501-8600Copyright 2010-2012 Spiga & Associates. our Last Nursing Class: How to Land Your First Nursing Job"and your next! This process takes about a year from the conclusion of the interview, during which time youve been great at your new job without so much as an undotted i or uncrossed t. When a patient needs medication, a nurse goes to the medicine cabinet and dispenses the drug for the patient. They are under a lot of pressure to catch instances of diversion, and repeatedly pulling a narc an hour of more before you give it is a definite red flag. Please spend some time reading the Diversion section of the blog, for more information. If the diverter has a license from one of those state agencies, usually its required that they be reported, and then its up to the board how they proceed with the personal license of the individual, he says. They do occasionally make arrests but they are rare. Specializes in Pediatrics, Rehab, Trauma. One pharmacy in Florida went from ordering 95,800 pills in 2009 to 2.2 million pills in 2011, according to the DEA. Doctor's Patient Dies of Opioid Overdoses, Spiga & Associates | 655 N. Central Ave. Ste. Drug/alcohol abuse; Gross negligence/incompetence, resulting in patient endangerment; Patient abuse and neglect; Sexual, violent, or abusive offenses; . If you are diverting medication you need to get help. Virtually every healthcare practitioner has seen a colleague fired or disciplined after being accused of diverting drugs or misusing their prescription pad. It doesn't take long to got to the Pyxis for a med once patient asks for it. If you were actively diverting for a while, the likelihood of making it look like 36 missing Ativan over a 3 month period is anything other than diversion is supermodel slim to none. Has 10 years experience. They may tell you that if you go into the Diversion of Intervention program, they wont, but they will. Murphy encourages facilities to be in full DEA compliance to mitigate diversion. var sellablestring = "MONITOR STAFF"; Closing arguments are expected to follow. Prospective clients may not obtain the same or similar results. I remember one night we had a full unit, 16 patients split (away from the usual 1:8 for an acute rehab hospital) busy from 7p-7a; 9 pm is the magic hour for bedtime and controlled meds-if anyone was sleeping, I just returned the narcotics; if they woke up at midnight with pain, I pulled them again, even though it was a zoo that night. Nov 21, 2018. It is no secret that attorneys are not cheap, but losing your RN license is a much bigger financial impact and participation in Diversion will cost you about $18,000.00 over the three or more years you are stuck in it. You have people that are already in very stressful situations, and now you give them access to drugs. Maybe in can be shown by other witness testimony that he had the drugs.The only way a warrantcan be out for your arrest is ifa Complaint was filed. you did it, 2.) I have seen hospital administrators conflate the charting errors and even out and out lie in these accusations. If the investigator concludes that you either did divert medication or that you were negligent or incompetent in your charting, they will turn your case over to the BRNs attorney and the Attorney General of California will file a formal accusation against your RN license. These Accusations always call for revocation of the RN license, but in the thousands of cases we have defended, this has happened only twice to our clients (remember that earlier, super- subtle plug about the amazing attorney?) It is literally worth millions of dollars. Areas of Law:Nursing License DefenseDrug DiversionSummary Suspension of Nursing LicenseAdministrative Hearings and ComplaintsHealth Professionals Recovery Program (HPRP). Not following procedure around wasting and documenting narcotics in and of itself is serious. Kristen Ashley (Goodreads Author) (shelved 3 times as falsely-accused) avg rating 4.41 38,248 ratings published 2011. Result:After successfully arguing our case, the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) promptly dissolved the summary suspension of the clients nursing license that day and delivered a favorable proposal to the Board of Nursing. Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN. Falsely accused for hit a teammate drug tested sent home 2hour after it happened This happened at a cross walk that the person was not in they was tat the pole I made a turn from a stopped position to park my order . I can personally tell you that I dealt with the same issues 15 or 20 years ago that the healthcare arena is facing today, specifically in the drug abuse and diversion by their own hospital healthcare employees, says Charlie Cichon, executive director of the National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators (NADDI) and a member of the ASIS International Pharmaceutical Security Council. Disclaimer:This information is a sample of our past results. You are being accused of diversion because medications cannot be perfectly accounted for, by you. Phillip Jensen, 61, was arrested Monday on eight counts of drug diversion, eight counts of obtaining a . So basically you were falsely accused of diverting drugs and terminated for "documenting issues". Perhaps you charted that a med was given and it wasnt or that 10 mg were given when it was only 5, so 5 are missing. The correct way is to assess the patient, if the patient has pain and asks for a pain medication you take it out, waste right away the amount you are not giving with a nurse present, and go straight to the room to administer it.
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