Drugs and Health Professionals in Worcester: Is This a Growing Problem?
Thursday, December 03, 2015
Three separate cases, two involving nurses and one involving an EMT, followed a similar pattern in which highly trained healthcare professions stole drugs for profit and in two of the cases replaced the medicine with an alternative.
"It's like any area of society -- addiction is a real issue. Unfortunately, there are people who become addicted, and that includes health care providers and nurses who handle medications and have access to them. So if they have a problem, it's not rampant or common in the field, but it's not uncommon,” David Schildmeier of the MA Nurses Association told GoLocalWorcester.
The problem is not unique to just a few individuals and is a threat to the healthcare industry and public health.
One Hospital Fined $2.3 Million by the US Attorney
“In the largest settlement of its kind involving allegations of drug diversion at a hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has agreed to pay the United States $2.3 million to resolve allegations that lax controls enabled MGH employees to divert controlled substances for personal use,” according to the Boston Office of the U.S. Attorney.
As part of the settlement, MGH agreed to implement a comprehensive corrective action plan to prevent, identify, and address future diversions.
“Under the law, hospitals like MGH have a special responsibility to ensure that controlled substances are used for patient care and are not diverted for non-medical uses,” said U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz. “Diversion of these drugs feeds addiction, contributes to potential illegal drug sales, and fuels the opioid epidemic that has had a devastating effect on the Commonwealth. We commend MGH for disclosing and addressing its diversion problems and for taking steps to ameliorate future diversion by hospital personnel.”
The two nurses stole nearly 16,000 pills, mostly oxycodone, an addictive painkiller. Both nurses stole from automated dispensing machines that MGH used to store and dispense prescription medications, found the investigation.
DEA’s ensuing audit of MGH’s controlled substances found discrepancies totaling over “20,000, missing or incomplete medication inventories, as well as hundreds of missing drug records, all in violation of the hospital’s responsibilities under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).”
Enforcement is Only Part of the Solution
The efforts of law enforcement has been one component, but preventative efforts and counseling must also be part of the solution. Nurses are not the only violators, a previous review of sanctions against doctors in Massachusetts found that many of enforcement and sanctions placed on physicians were tied to misuse of drugs.
The Massachusetts Nurses Association take the issue seriously and are working of strategies to help minimize the problem.
“It's like trying to head off a bomb before something happens. Our view is that addiction is a disease and we try to address it to the best of our ability. "
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