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A Port Charlotte nurse is now facing criminal charges after taking several vials of a pain killer from the hospital she worked for.
W. Alley was an emergency room nurse at Shorepoint Port Charlotte when she allegedly took 11 vials of hydromorphone without providing patient orders. The hospital requested the 46-year-old come in twice for a drug screen, but she never showed up.
Hydromorphone is an opiate stronger than morphine, and highly addictive. Health experts said it’s extremely important to be careful with these types of medicines.
“[With] a controlled substance… or any medication really.. It’s important to manage how it’s administered and how it’s being used by the patient because there’s so many risks to it,” Dr. Joe Pepe said, from the Charlotte County Health Department.
The risks include accidental overdose and abuse. Doctors report when people do not take the drug the way it’s supposed to be, it can cause harm or even kill a person.
Court records report Alley took the drugs because it would take too long for work orders to be filled. However, Shorepoint notes, “none of the patients Whitney [was] caring for were to receive Hydromorphone in those 11 occasions and none of her patients were prescribed Hydromorphone.”
This is the second time in the past decade Alley is accused of doing this. She was fired from Manatee Memorial Hospital in 2015 for taking the same drug without documenting it.
The Florida Board of Nursing made her go through a course to regain her license on the condition that she didn’t violate the law again.
Alley has already bonded out of jail.