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MUNCIE, Ind. – For the second time in five weeks, a nurse at IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital has been accused of stealing narcotics and ingesting them before treating patients.

Kadee D. Klafka, 25, Muncie, was arrested Monday and charged with possession of a narcotic drug, theft and criminal recklessness.

Delaware Circuit Court 2 Judge Kimberly Dowling set Klafka’s bond at $15,000.

According to documents filed by Chief Deputy Prosecutor Zach Craig, officials at the hospital noticed Klafka had removed “an unusually high level of fetanyl” from automated dispensing machines during the month of January, prompting an investigation by hospital police.

She was also determined to have “removed more morphine, hydromorphone and benzodiazepines than any other provider in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit,” an officer wrote.

 

Authorities determined Klafka routinely accessed the “Cardiac Intensive Care Med Room and then (entered) an employee locker room within a short period of time.”

Interviewed by police on April 11, Klafka denied wrongdoing.

Two days later, Klafka was interviewed again, this time with a Drug Enforcement Administration investigator this time joining hospital police.

The nurse then allegedly admitted she had lied during the first interview and indicated since last November she had repeatedly injected herself “with fetanyl, morphine and dilaudid… that were unused portions of medications that she had administered to patients.”

She maintained she had only ingested the stolen medications while at the hospital, and never took the meds home.

On March 17, another nurse at IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital – Alisha K. Sue, 28, of Albany – was arrested on allegations she stole morphine and other drugs during her work shifts.

She faces the same three charges as Klakfa.

Possession of a narcotic drug and theft are Level D felonies carrying standard one-year jail sentences. Criminal recklessness is a misdemeanor.

On March 23, an anesthesiologist who participated in medical procedures at the Muncie hospital after ingesting stolen narcotics was placed on probation for two years, and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.

Jose A. Ramos, 52, now of Fort Wayne, had pleaded guilty to possession of a narcotic drug and criminal recklessness.

Judge Thomas Cannon Jr. told Ramos he had “played Russian roulette” with the lives of his patients.