This post was originally published on this site
The Board of Examiners for Nursing this week disciplined five nurses for cases involving alcohol or drug abuse, including one nurse who stole Fentanyl patches from nursing home patients.
In a consent order with the board, Ashley Dizney, a registered nurse and an advanced practice registered nurse, agreed to pay a $1,000 fine and be placed on probation for four years for abusing Fentanyl to excess in January 2017. That month, she stole Fentanyl patches from patients in nursing homes in Torrington and Waterbury while working for Connecticut Mental Health Specialists of Farmington, the order said.
From 2015 to 2017, Dizney also used alcohol and multiple controlled substances to excess, the order said. She chose not to contest the allegations against her.
The board on Wednesday revoked the license of Denise Meadows, a licensed practical nurse from Hebron, for abusing Dilaudid and cocaine to excess in 2016, the board’s memorandum of decision said. While working at VITAS Healthcare in Waterbury, Meadows stole the painkiller and falsified a controlled substance receipt, the memo said.The memo also said that Meadows abused alcohol from 2011 to 2016.
On Wednesday, the board also placed the LPN license of Kristin Brice of Fairfield on probation for two years under a consent order agreed Brice agreed to. The order said that in 2014 and 2015, while working for Soundview Medical Associates in Norwalk, Brice wrote prescriptions for herself for Diazepam, an anti-anxiety drug, and the painkillers oxycodone and oxycodone with acetaminophen. She also used those drugs to excess during that period, the consent order said.
The board also suspended the RN license of Karina Francis of Colchester, saying that from December 2016 to February 2017, she used controlled substances to excess and she poses a danger to the public, state records show. Francis was diagnosed in December with opioid use disorder and repeatedly tested positive for Xanax, cannabis and amphetamines, records show.
The board also suspended the LPN license of Frances Pisaturo of East Haven, saying that while working at PSA Healthcare in Stratford this year, she used marijuana to excess and posed a danger to the public, state records show.