Tainted drugs dispensed at Florida hospital after theft
Hospital Safety Insider, September 8, 2016
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More than 100 doses of diluted and possibly contaminated medication were given to patients at a hospital in Fort Myers, Florida, earlier this year as a result of a theft by an ER nurse, according to a report from the News-Press newspaper.
Alexander Rodriguez, 28, a former ER nurse at Lee Memorial Hospital, stole painkillers Dilaudid, oxycodone, and morphine from a locked medication container starting in April until he was discovered and fired in August, according to the report.
Rodriguez faces 131 felony counts, including dozens of forgery to obtain drugs and fraud to obtain drugs charges, and one misdemeanor count, the report said. Rodriquez replaced morphine and Dilaudid with saline on average 15 times per month between April and August 11 from the hospital's automated Pyxis medication dispensing system. He also apparently went into restrooms and replaced liquid medicine contained in carpujects, syringe devices used to inject painkillers, the paper reported.
Read more here.
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