Crookston nurse stole pain patches

Published 2:56 pm Saturday, November 29, 2014

CROOKSTON — A nurse in northwestern Minnesota took pain patches off the backs of mentally disabled residents of a nursing home and stuck them to his own tongue to feed his drug addiction, according to a state report released this week.

The man routinely left the fentanyl patches in his mouth for about an hour, then put them back on the residents, state Health Department investigators said.

The licensed practical nurse at Villa St. Vincent in Crookston also stole painkillers from residents for at least a year, according to the report released this week. He was caught last spring and was immediately fired.

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Health Department investigators said in the report that the nurse admitted to using the fentanyl patches of three patients as many as three to four times a week.

The three patients were described as having “severe cognitive defects and an inability to communicate their needs.” The report said the health effects to those residents when the patches were removed “could not be determined.”

Fentanyl is a powerful narcotic analgesic that is seldom used outside hospitals. It’s considered 80 times stronger than morphine and highly addictive. Investigators found the nurse also stole tramadol, Tylenol No. 3 and Percocet.

The Health Department did not disclose the nurse’s name. It was not immediately clear if he has been charged with any crimes, but the report notes that he was questioned by police.

The report said the facility “had policies in procedures in place to govern the handling and control of narcotic medications.” But it also said the consulting pharmacist lacked proper safeguards to make sure narcotics were properly tracked.

Villa St. Vincent administrator Judy Hulst told the Star Tribune that at the time of the thefts, the nursing home had policies and procedures in place for handling and controlling narcotics. After the thefts, she said, the facility implemented new policies and procedures.