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Patients in pain at an Illinois medical rehabilitation center were given diluted liquid morphine as their nurse took the rest for herself, authorities said.
One patient, for example, received a shot from a morphine bottle with only about 26% of the declared drug amount, according to an April 11 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois. Another patient’s shot contained approximately 53% of the declared amount of morphine.
Five hospice patients at the Chicago-area rehabilitation center received doses from morphine bottles that had been diluted, according to court records.
Now the former assistant director of nursing at the suburban center has pleaded guilty to one count of tampering with a consumer product, records show.
“The facts contained in the guilty plea are only a small part of the circumstances leading to (her) regretful and uncharacteristic actions,” the woman’s defense attorney said. “We are looking forward to sentencing when we can present the judge with her complete story.”
Authorities said she was hired as the assistant director of nursing in July 2021.
In July and August of that year, she began removing liquid morphine from multiple bottles intended for patients, according to the 30-year-old Woodstock woman’s plea agreement. The pain medication was then replaced with another substance.
She took the drugs “for her own personal use,” authorities said.
The woman faces up to 10 years in federal prison, according to the release. Her sentencing date has not been scheduled.
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