The Orange County Criminal Lawyer Blog
A Berwick nurse working at an assisted living facility is facing several charges for accusations of stealing pain medication from patients instead of giving them their doses.
The Celebration Villa of Berwick, described on their website as “a friendly single-story enhanced personal care community in Berwick, PA, just a short drive from Wilkes-Barre,” employs nurses on their staff. Some of the nurses are tasked with giving medications to patients.
It was reported that a 34-year-old nurse at the facility requested to be scheduled to work the overnight shift. If she worked that shift, she would be required to distribute the medications.
The medicine is regularly audited to ensure everything is as it should be. On May 22, an employee of the facility was performing the audit when they noticed there were breached Oxycodone packages that looked like they had been resealed. Some of them were closed with tape.
Upon further inspection, the auditor found that blood pressure medication and heart medication were placed in the packages before they were reclosed with tape.
When the medication logs were checked, they showed that one of the patients was given pain medicine twice during the night. The woman was asked about how many times she requested the medication, and she reportedly said that she had only taken medication for pain a few times the whole time she was at the facility.
It was purported that the nurse who had asked to work the night shift was responsible for the missing pain medication.
The woman is expected to face multiple charges including possession of a controlled substance obtained by fraud, tampering with medical records, forgery, reckless endangerment, theft, misbranding a controlled substance, and falsely representing medications.
If you or someone you love is suspected of a criminal offense, contact Orange County criminal defense lawyer Staycie R. Sena at (949) 477-8088 for a consultation now.