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LEWISBURG — A registered nurse at Evangelical Community Hospital in Lewisburg allegedly lied about her patients’ pain levels in order to dispense Oxycodone for herself, according to the state attorney general’s office.
S. Kreamer, 40, Selinsgrove, was charged with a felony count of acquisition of a controlled substance by misrepresentation; and two misdemeanor counts of intentional possession of a controlled substance by a person not registered and furnishing of false or fraudulent material information. The charges were filed by Agent Mark Mitchell, of the State Office of Attorney General, in the Lewisburg office of District Judge Jeffrey Rowe.
On March 15, Randy Stressor, the director of Pharmacy at the hospital, contacted the state Attorney General’s office to report a possible incident of diversion. An internal investigation had been launched on suspicion that Kreamer, a registered nurse, was diverting Oxycodone to herself.
On March 15, officials report Kreamer used an Omnicell medication dispensing unit to allegedly administered Oxycodone to two patients immediately upon coming on shift at 6:23 and 6:35 a.m. Both patients denied receiving the medication for pain, according to court documents.
Kreamer denied diverting the medication. She consented to a drug screen, but allegedly claimed to have taken one of her mother’s Oxycodone pills over the weekend. She does not have a prescription for those pills, according to court documents.
Mitchell interviewed Kreamer on March 26. She initially denied diverting controlled substances and stated that she was assigned multiple patients in a lot of pain, according to court documents.
Kreamer allegedly eventually admitted to obtaining Oxycodone during her shifts at the hospital. She said she would document a patient’s pain scale score higher than what was reported to justify dispensing Oxycodone and would document the medication as given to the patient in their charts, according to court documents.
Kreamer allegedly said she would go into the patient’s room and remove the Oxycodeon table from the blister packer and place the tablet in her pocket in order to take home with her. She allegedly would dispose of the empty packet in the garbage, according to court documents.
Kreamer estimated that she diverted at least one time during each of her scheduled shifts during the hospital audit search, according to court documents.
Kreamer was arraigned in front of Rowe on Thursday and bail was set at $10,000 unsecured. She is scheduled for a preliminary hearing at 10 a.m. May 2 in front of Rowe.