Nurse Swapped Painkiller with Saltwater

24 Comments

About 200 former surgery patients at Boulder Community Hospital have been told they may have been given saltwater instead of a painkiller, 9News reported Thursday night.

The hospital and Boulder police are investigating a nurse the hospital says was stealing the powerful drug Fentanyl. A hospital spokesman told 9News the nurse had been replacing the drug in the vial with sterile saline.

The hospital said 50 vials were pilfered between Sept. 24 and Oct. 17. The nurse was fired Oct. 24, but he has not been formally charged by police, the television station reported.

© YellowBrix 2008

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kaye7

over 4 years ago

854 comments

wow this is amazing
Kelleylee01

over 4 years ago

20 comments

Huh?? Im wondering what kind of surgery these patients had, and did no one notice this nurse was maybe 'high'?

No one noticed that the patients were still in pain? even after they complained, because they must have......

This is deplorable......... I have been a nurse for 10 years, would NEVER think of not giving a pain med, that is our goal isnt it, to keep pts pain free?? or is it keeping ourselves pain free???
stillastudent

over 4 years ago

24 comments

wow, so sad
breankar

over 4 years ago

6 comments

Its kind of ironic but this is part of why I decided to go into nursing. I had surgery and I know I did not receive my pain meds from a nurse that I had almost every night. She also tried to pull my urine cath out my stomach wall with out letting the fluid out. She did pull it out down below with out deflating the little balloon.I don't know all the correct terms yet but I will when I advance in my schooling.
nurse1976

over 4 years ago

2 comments

Im currently a Nursing Student....and this is appauling to me!!!! We are supposed to be the trusted not the untrustworthy!!
kimgen

over 4 years ago

2 comments

Dont worry I have been in hospital about 3 time my self and I have seen how hard the nurses work and professional they are. I know may be some bad apple on the bolw every preofession have them.
HRTNURSOUL

over 4 years ago

4 comments

I'M WITH YOU MHOLDEN, I ALSO HOPE THAT SHE GETS THE HELP SHE NEEDS. I AM ALSO SURE THAT SHE KNOWS THAT SHE IS WRONG, BUT WHEN FIGHTING AN ADDICTION THE PERSON DO NOT THINK OF CONSEQUENCES, THEY ONLY THINK OF GETTING THEIR NEXT FIX. AND THE FIRST STEP IS FOR HER TO REALIZE THAT SHE HAS A PROBLEM IN ORDER TO ACCEPT THE PROPER HELP.
mholden

over 4 years ago

4 comments

Obviously some nurses don't understand how severe "just narc addiction" consequences can be. As stated before, I hope he receives help in addition to those consequences. Stats show 1 in 4 health care professionals struggle with addiction. If we could only care for each other the way we care for our patients.
DWolf

over 4 years ago

26 comments

stealing narcs is wrong..stealing a patient's pain meds is WRONG!!! addiction is one thing, stealing from your employer is another ......stealing your patients pain meds does them harm and should be dealt with more severely than just narc addiction
mholden

over 4 years ago

4 comments

This sounds like the actions of a truly desperate person who is probably an addict. I can't imagine his doing this for any other reason. I hope he gets the help he needs to get well and my heart goes out to those patients who suffered.
lexi468

over 4 years ago

20 comments

I would hope that they would do more than slap them on the hand!I thought about it,and something would be disturbingly wrong if action wasn't taken.
50Children

over 4 years ago

0 comments

Are they really going to do anything about, or are they just going to slap him on the hand, and hope it won't happen again. Come on now, think about it!
mramsey40

over 4 years ago

422 comments

It is truly sad to see one of our own sacrifice a patient that is in pain for their own personal gain. Hopefully they will have better procedures in place to keep this from happening again.
lexi468

over 4 years ago

20 comments

If you decide to get into the health care profession,and take the time to go to school&study,you would assume that you are doing so because you care for the well being of people on a basic human level.This includes people that need pain mangement whether it be post surgical,or for other reasons.I have a hard time understanding what would make someone in the health care profession want to do this?It makes me sad to know that there are people like this who would want to do this to their patients.
Breniaha

over 4 years ago

66 comments

This happens alot. I have learned nothing is fail proof and no matter what if a person wants it bad enough they will get it.