Case Database
Filter every documented case by date, drug, state, setting, role, prosecution status, and penalty. Search accepts brand or generic drug names, facility names, and cities.
Showing 730 of 730 cases · page 11 of 15.
| Case / When | Where | Setting | Drug | Method | Role | Prosecution status | Penalty | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Registered nurse alleged to have diverted a controlled substance from a nursing facility in Mukwonago
2018-11
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Wisconsin Mukwonago, WI |
a nursing facility (Facility A) | a controlled substance | Alleged to have diverted a controlled substance from the facility on or around November 7, 2018. | not stated | License surrender accepted; final decision and order dated September 10, 2020; no petition for reinstatement for at least one year and $632 costs before any application is considered. | none documented | source |
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Physician charged with health care fraud and distributing Suboxone without medical necessity through a clinic
2018-11
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Ohio Dublin, OH |
a Suboxone clinic | Suboxone | Charged in a federal indictment with a health care fraud scheme that involved marketing prescription creams in low-income neighborhoods and persistently mailing those creams to Medicaid customers, and with prescribing and distributing Suboxone without medical necessity. | not stated | Charged in a seven-count federal indictment on October 30, 2018; scheduled for an initial appearance in federal court. | none documented | source |
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Two South Denver pharmacists pleaded guilty to felony opioid distribution charges
2018-10-17
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Colorado | Pharmacy practice in south Denver, Colorado | Opioids and other controlled substances | not stated | Two licensed pharmacists | not stated | none documented | source |
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Hospital pharmacy technician diverted hydrocodone and oxycodone from a pharmacy vault through fraudulent automated dispensing transactions
2018-10
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Hawaii | Tripler Army Medical Center | hydrocodone and oxycodone (Schedule II controlled substances) | Stole 8,505 pills, each containing 5 milligrams of either hydrocodone or oxycodone, from the hospital's pharmacy vault between February 2017 and March 2018, using her authorized fingerprint and unique login to conduct 82 fraudulent transactions in the hospital's new automated medication distribution and tracking system, which she found did not require a valid prescription to dispense medication to patients being discharged; gave the pills to her boyfriend for his personal use and used some herself. | not stated | Sentenced to 12 months in jail plus six years of court supervision; pleaded guilty in June to one count each of possessing with intent to distribute hydrocodone and oxycodone; had repaid $1,033 to the hospital before sentencing. | none documented | source |
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Las Vegas nurse practitioner and surgical technician pleaded guilty to distributing hydrocodone and oxycodone prescriptions for cash
2018-10
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Nevada | Parking lots in the Las Vegas Valley; prescriptions written on the nurse practitioner's pad with a physician's pre-signed DEA number | Hydrocodone and oxycodone | not stated | Advanced practice registered nurse and a surgical technician without a medical or DEA license | not stated | none documented | source |
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Arkansas nurse surrenders license after record reviews found controlled-substance diversion at two facilities
2018-09
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Arkansas | Academic medical center hospital in Little Rock and a second facility | Controlled substances (not specified) | not stated | Nurse | not stated | none documented | source |
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University of Michigan Health System Pays $4.3M in Record Drug Diversion Settlement
2018-08-30
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Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan |
University of Michigan Health System, main hospital and 15 unregistered off-site clinics (Ann Arbor, MI) | Opioids including fentanyl, system-wide | Unregistered off-site narcotics distribution; recordkeeping failures; untimely theft/loss reporting to DEA | not stated | Civil settlement, $4.3 million — announced Aug 30, 2018 | $4,300,000 (civil settlement) | source |
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Pharmacy Technician Diverts Fentanyl at Iowa Methodist Medical Center
2018-07-10
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Iowa Des Moines, Iowa |
Pharmacy technician, Iowa Methodist Medical Center (Des Moines, IA) | Fentanyl vials | Extracted fentanyl with syringe, self-injected, refilled vials with a different fluid, returned to storage | not stated | Sentenced Jul 10, 2018 — 30 months + 3 yrs supervised release | none documented | source |
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Long Island pharmacy chain settled claims it failed to timely report controlled substance losses and thefts
2018-06-28
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New York | Pharmacy stores in Nassau and Suffolk counties, Long Island | Hydrocodone and other controlled substances | not stated | Retail pharmacy chain | not stated | none documented | source |
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Pain clinic physician indicted for prescribing fentanyl, oxycodone and other controlled substances without patient examinations
2018-06
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Ohio Hamilton, OH |
Cincinnati Centers for Pain Relief | fentanyl, oxycodone, methadone, morphine | Charged by indictment with unlawful distribution of controlled substances: allegedly prescribing fentanyl, oxycodone, methadone, morphine and other controlled substances on many occasions without patients actually being seen by the physician, and billing Medicare, Medicaid and the Bureau of Workers' Compensation for medically unnecessary prescriptions; also alleged to have received payments from a pharmaceutical company for sham speaking engagements about a fentanyl spray. | not stated | Federal grand jury indictment: 88 counts of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance, one count of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance with death resulting, eight counts of health care fraud and 17 counts of violating the anti-kickback law. Charges only; no finding or plea reported. | none documented | source |
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ED Nurse Transmits Hepatitis C to Patients at Good Samaritan Hospital
2018-05
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Washington Puyallup, Washington |
ED nurse, Good Samaritan Hospital (Puyallup, WA) | Hydromorphone and fentanyl vials | Diverted injectable narcotics for personal use, reused contaminated needles on patients, exposing 12 to hepatitis C | not stated | Pleaded guilty Sept 5, 2023 to tampering with a consumer product; faced up to 10 years | $4,000,000 (civil settlement) | source |
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Health system settles alleged opioid diversion case over tens of thousands of missing oxycodone 30 mg tablets
2018-05
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Georgia Springfield, GA |
Effingham Health System | oxycodone 30 mg tablets | Alleged large-scale diversion of opioids; tens of thousands of oxycodone 30 mg tablets were reported missing over more than four years, and the health system allegedly failed to notify authorities of the suspected diversion within the time required by federal law. | not stated | Agreed to pay $4.1 million to settle the claims; the system said it has since overhauled pharmacy recordkeeping and reporting and implemented electronic inventory systems. At the time, the largest settlement of its kind for hospital drug diversion; the DEA investigation was launched in 2017. | none documented | source |
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Georgia hospital settles allegations over unaccounted 30 mg oxycodone tablets believed diverted
2018-05
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Georgia | a Georgia hospital | oxycodone (30 mg tablets) | allegedly failed to provide effective controls and procedures to guard against theft and loss of controlled substances, resulting in tens of thousands of 30 mg oxycodone tablets unaccounted for and believed diverted for illegal uses over a four-year period, and allegedly failed to notify DEA of suspected diversion within the requisite time period | not stated | $4.1 million civil settlement and performance improvement plan with DEA | none documented | source |
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North Colorado Medical Center Nurse Stole Opioids from Locked Dispensing System
2018-04-26
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Colorado Greeley, Colorado |
North Colorado Medical Center (Greeley, CO) | Fentanyl, morphine, hydromorphone | Theft from locked automated dispensing system; used drugs while on shift | not stated | Pleaded guilty; sentenced Apr 26, 2018 to 4 months + 1 year supervised release | none documented | source |
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Denver VA and ER Nurse Tampered with Fentanyl Vials, Resealed with Skin Glue
2018-04-19
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Colorado Denver, Colorado |
VA Medical Center and a free-standing UCHealth ER (Denver, CO) | Hydromorphone, morphine, fentanyl | Took leftover waste doses; tampered fentanyl vials refilled with saline, resealed with skin glue | not stated | Pleaded guilty; sentenced Apr 19, 2018 to 14 months + 3 years supervised release | none documented | source |
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Springfield chain pharmacy technician admitted stealing thousands of hydrocodone tablets over nine months
2018-04-19
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Illinois | Chain retail pharmacy, Springfield | Hydrocodone tablets | not stated | Pharmacy technician | not stated | none documented | source |
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UT Southwestern Pays $4.5M Over Staff Fentanyl Diversion and Two Nurse Overdose Deaths
2018-04
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Texas Dallas, Texas |
Clements University Hospital, UT Southwestern (Dallas, TX) | Fentanyl and other controlled substances | Staff diversion went undetected amid CSA recordkeeping failures — late theft/loss reporting, dispensing/wasting documentation errors | not stated | Civil settlement, $4.5 million — Nov 30, 2021 | $4,500,000 (civil settlement) | source |
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UC San Diego anesthesiologist's license revoked after alleged sedative diversion and saline substitution
2018-04
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California | UC San Diego Medical Center | Sedatives and opioids including morphine and fentanyl | not stated | Anesthesiologist | not stated | none documented | source |
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Meridian nurse practitioner pleaded guilty to swapping hydrocodone in clinic cabinets for muscle relaxants and forging prescriptions
2018-03-14
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Idaho | Multi-site medical facility in Idaho | Hydrocodone/APAP | not stated | Nurse practitioner | not stated | none documented | source |
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Delaware nurse who impersonated a doctor to obtain Xanax lost bid to regain license after permanent revocation
2018-02-22
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Delaware | not stated | Xanax | Impersonated a physician to obtain a prescription medication for personal use | Licensed nurse | not stated | none documented | source |
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Delaware nurse who obtained Xanax by impersonating a doctor loses bid to regain license
2018-02-22
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Delaware | not stated | Xanax, obtained by posing as a physician | not stated | Licensed nurse | not stated | none documented | source |
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Home-Infusion Pharmacy Tech Diluted Hospice Patients' IV Opioids
2018-02-21
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Alabama Birmingham, Alabama |
ContinuumRx of Central Alabama, home-infusion pharmacy (Birmingham, AL) | Morphine sulfate and hydromorphone — IV compounding vials | Withdrew drug with syringe, refilled vials with saline/sterile water, returned to inventory | not stated | Pleaded guilty; sentenced Feb 21, 2018 to 5 years in federal prison | none documented | source |
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Wyoming hospital nurse sentenced for diluting hydromorphone and meperidine vials
2018-02-21
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Wyoming | Hospital in Douglas, Wyoming (Memorial Hospital of Converse County) | Hydromorphone and meperidine | not stated | Registered nurse | not stated | none documented | source |
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Former registered nurse at Memorial Hospital of Converse County sentenced for stealing hydromorphone and meperidine and replacing them with saline
2018-02
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Wyoming Douglas, WY |
Memorial Hospital of Converse County | hydromorphone (Dilaudid) and meperidine (Demerol) | The former nurse pleaded guilty to one count of tampering with a consumer product and one count of acquiring a controlled substance by misrepresentation, deception or subterfuge. An indictment alleged tampering with 58 vials of hydromorphone and one container of meperidine by removing some or all of the drug and replacing it with saline solution. The former nurse admitted to stealing hydromorphone and a hospital spokesman said the former nurse personally used the drugs. | not stated | Sentenced to two concurrent eight-month prison terms and two concurrent three-year terms of supervised release, with home confinement except for court-approved activities, cognitive-behavioral treatment, and substance abuse treatment. The Wyoming State Board of Nursing suspended the nurse's license. | none documented | source |
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Former pharmacy-tech trainee at Little Rock VA hospital sentenced to prison for role in opioid theft and sales
2018-02
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Arkansas | Veterans Affairs hospital in Little Rock | Opioids stolen from a hospital supplier | not stated | Pharmacy-technician trainee | not stated | none documented | source |
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Birmingham Pharmacy Technician Tampered with Opioid IV Bags Prepared for Palliative Care Patients
2018-02
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Alabama Birmingham, AL |
Home-infusion pharmacy, Birmingham, AL | Morphine sulfate and hydromorphone hydrochloride | Removed drugs from vials used to mix palliative-care IV bags and replaced them with another liquid, knowing diluted bags would reach patients | not stated | Sentenced to five years in prison for tampering with opioids intended for IV fluid | none documented | source |
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Utah health system paid $1 million to resolve clinic drug diversion allegations
2017-12-08
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Utah | Ogden-area clinic and pharmacy operated by a Utah health system | Oxycodone, diazepam, phentermine and hydrocodone | not stated | Former medical assistant to a clinic physician | not stated | none documented | source |
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Orlando pharmacist sentenced to more than 24 years for dispensing oxycodone on fraudulent and pill-mill prescriptions
2017-12
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Florida | Community pharmacy in Orlando, Florida | Oxycodone | not stated | Licensed pharmacist | not stated | none documented | source |
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Former hospital nurse in Douglas charged with stealing and diluting hydromorphone and meperidine
2017-10
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Wyoming Douglas, WY |
Memorial Hospital of Converse County | hydromorphone (Dilaudid) and meperidine (Demerol) | Alleged tampering with consumer products by removing some or all of hydromorphone and meperidine and replacing the drugs with saline solution; alleged acquiring Schedule II controlled substances by removing them from their containers and replacing them with saline solution. A hospital spokesman said the former nurse admitted to stealing hydromorphone. | not stated | Pleaded not guilty to four counts; placed on administrative leave and license suspended by the Wyoming State Board of Nursing; remains free on an unsecured bond and a trial was set. | none documented | source |
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Palos Park physician's medical and controlled substance licenses temporarily suspended over prescribing
2017-10
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Illinois | Private medical practice, Palos Park, Illinois | Controlled substances (unspecified) | not stated | Physician and surgeon | not stated | none documented | source |
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Schaumburg psychiatrist temporarily suspended over boundary violations and controlled substance prescribing
2017-10
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Illinois | Private psychiatric practice, Schaumburg, Illinois | Controlled substances (unspecified) | not stated | Physician and surgeon (psychiatric practice) | not stated | none documented | source |
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Perryville pharmacy owner sentenced to 10 years for selling opioids off pharmacy shelves and forging prescriptions
2017-09-27
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Arkansas | Independent pharmacy in Perryville | Oxycodone and hydrocodone (Schedule II, III and IV pills) | not stated | Managing pharmacist and co-owner | not stated | none documented | source |
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Three former Trinity Hospital hospice nurses accused of stealing drugs and endangering patients
2017-09
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North Dakota Minot, ND |
Trinity Hospital's Home Health and Hospice program | morphine and hydromorphine; drugs prescribed for hospice patients | Accused of stealing drugs prescribed for hospice patients; two charged with endangering a patient by diluting medication or giving morphine instead of prescribed hydromorphine; alleged conspiracy to steal drugs; one allegedly confessed to ingesting unused medication and self-administering for over a year; investigation found multiple drug diversions in records of 104 patients. | not stated | Charged with felony offenses; two voluntarily surrendered nursing licenses after admitting to board allegations; one arrested and signed promise to appear. | none documented | source |
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Little Rock VA hospital employee pleads guilty in conspiracy to steal and distribute opioids
2017-09
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Arkansas | Veterans Affairs hospital in Little Rock | Prescription medication including opioids | not stated | Hospital technician (one of three indicted employees) | not stated | none documented | source |
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Nevada grocery-pharmacy technician accused of diverting hydrocodone, amphetamine and oxycodone tablets from patient bottles
2017-08
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Nevada | Retail grocery-chain pharmacy | Hydrocodone/acetaminophen, amphetamine salts and oxycodone (alleged) | not stated | Registered pharmaceutical technician | not stated | none documented | source |
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South Dakota medication aide charged with hydrocodone possession in 2017 health care fraud sweep
2017-07-13
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South Dakota | not specified in release; one of two cases in Yankton County and Turner County | hydrocodone | not stated | medication aide | not stated | none documented | source |
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South Dakota medication aide charged with ingesting a substance to become intoxicated in 2017 health care fraud sweep
2017-07-13
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South Dakota | not specified in release; one of two cases in Yankton County and Turner County | not specified (substance other than alcohol) | not stated | medication aide | not stated | none documented | source |
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Ogden hospital emergency room nurse charged with diverting morphine and dilaudid and tampering with vials, exposing patients to hepatitis C
2017-07
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Utah Ogden, UT |
McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden and Davis Hospital and Medical Center in Layton | morphine and dilaudid | Alleged diversion of controlled substances by injecting herself with morphine and dilaudid and then administering the tampered drugs to patients | not stated | Indicted on eight counts of tampering with a consumer product and eight counts of fraudulently obtaining a controlled substance; surrendered nursing license in November 2015 | none documented | source |
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Physician allegedly took back patients' prescribed controlled substances for personal use and falsified records to justify prescribing
2017-07
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New Mexico Moriarty, NM |
private medical practice | opioid drugs | State medical board alleged the physician resumed personal unlawful use of opioid drugs, thwarted required drug screenings, diverted controlled substances he had prescribed to patients back from those patients for his own personal use, and falsified medical records to justify the prescribing of controlled substances. | not stated | DEA revoked the physician's DEA Certificate of Registration and denied any pending applications after the state medical board summarily suspended his medical license | none documented | source |
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Physician accused of taking back prescribed opioids from patients for personal use and falsifying records
2017-07
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New Mexico Moriarty, NM |
Moriarty, NM | opioid drugs / controlled substances | Alleged to have resumed personal use of opioid drugs, prescribed large and varied amounts of controlled substances to patients without adequate medical justification, taken back controlled substances he had prescribed to patients for his own personal use, and falsified medical records to justify the prescribing | not stated | DEA revoked his Certificate of Registration; revocation was based on the resulting suspension of his state medical license, not on an adjudication of the diversion allegations, which remained contested and pending before the state medical board | none documented | source |
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Massachusetts Paramedic Pleads Guilty to Tampering with Ambulance Fentanyl
2017-06-22
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Massachusetts Rowley, Massachusetts |
Private ambulance company (Rowley, MA) | Fentanyl — ambulance patient supply, 650+ vials | Stole vials outright for personal use; separately withdrew fentanyl from patient-bound vials and replaced with saline | not stated | Pleaded guilty Jun 22, 2017; sentenced Nov 2017 to 30 months + 3 years supervised release | none documented | source |
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Registered nurse accused of diverting hydromorphone at Memorial Hospital of Converse County by replacing it with saline
2017-06
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Wyoming Douglas, WY |
Memorial Hospital of Converse County | hydromorphone (Dilaudid); also Demerol and fentanyl | Allegedly stole hydromorphone for personal use; drew hydromorphone from vials and refilled them with saline; overrode the automated medication dispensing system; tampered with containers of Demerol and fentanyl. A hospital official said the nurse admitted to stealing the hydromorphone. | not stated | Placed on administrative leave; nursing license summarily suspended by the Wyoming State Board of Nursing; state boards and police investigating; no criminal charges filed at that point. | none documented | source |
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Wayne hospital pharmacy technician indicted for stealing fentanyl from operating room dispensers
2017-06
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New Jersey | Hospital operating rooms, Wayne, New Jersey | Fentanyl | not stated | Hospital pharmacy technician | not stated | none documented | source |
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Metro Jackson Hospital Nurse Charged With Embezzling Opioids
2017-05-24
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Mississippi | Hospital in the Jackson, Mississippi metro area | Dilaudid (hydromorphone) and morphine, both Schedule II | not stated | Registered nurse | not stated | none documented | source |
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Scottsdale Surgery Center Nurse Surrenders License After Diverting Fentanyl and Dilaudid
2017-05-02
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Arizona Scottsdale, AZ |
Ambulatory surgery center (Scottsdale, AZ) | Fentanyl and hydromorphone (Dilaudid) | Tampered with narcotic vials on hand at the surgery center and refilled them with sterile saline to conceal the theft | not stated | Surrendered Arizona nursing license May 2, 2017; later indicted on 23 drug-diversion felony counts | none documented | source |
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Alaska registered nurse reprimanded for diverting narcotics from employer for personal use
2017-05
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Alaska | her employer | various narcotics | intentionally misappropriated various narcotics from her employer for personal use | not stated | public reprimand; consent agreement | none documented | source |
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Registered nurse reprimanded for misappropriating narcotics from employer for personal use
2017-05
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Alaska | employer | various narcotics | intentional misappropriation of various narcotics from employer for personal use | not stated | Consent Agreement; public reprimand | none documented | source |
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Hospital nurse accused of embezzling Dilaudid and morphine for diversion
2017-05
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Mississippi Jackson, MS |
a metro-area hospital | Dilaudid (hydromorphone) and morphine | alleged diversion/embezzlement of Schedule II opioid medications | not stated | arrested; surrendered nursing license | none documented | source |
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California respiratory care practitioner's license revoked after nursing board discipline for possessing controlled substances and false hospital records
2017-03-25
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California | not stated | Controlled substance (not specified in the board summary) | not stated | Respiratory care practitioner who also held a registered nursing license | not stated | none documented | source |
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California respiratory care practitioner surrendered license after being found with four fentanyl syringes not needed for work
2017-03-23
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California | not stated | Fentanyl | not stated | Respiratory care practitioner | not stated | none documented | source |
Every filtered view has its own URL, so it can be linked or bookmarked. The same filters work on the JSON feed: /api/cases.json.
What each column does and doesn't cover
Every case states When (date) and Where (state) — 730 of 730. Beyond that, a blank cell means the source record does not state that fact, not that it did not happen:
- Setting: stated in 649 of 730 cases (89%)
- Drug: stated in 657 of 730 cases (90%)
- Method: stated in 474 of 730 cases (65%)
- Prosecution status: stated in 474 of 730 cases (65%); a documented penalty (fine, settlement, or restitution) exists for 77 of 730 cases (11%)
- Role: stated in only 255 of 730 cases (35%) — filtering or sorting by role silently hides the rest of the registry, which may still describe the same role in prose without a structured field
Why: documented failure modes
A separate text analysis of the 723 case summaries found 371 cases (51.3%) matching at least one named failure-mode pattern below. 352 cases (48.7% of 723) matched none of these categories - most of these are short board-order summaries ("licensee diverted controlled substances from their employer") that state an outcome without describing a mechanism, not cases where no failure occurred. A case can match zero, one, or several categories — these are corpus-level counts, not a per-case tag, and are not used as a row filter above: reproducing the exact category membership per case from the stored patterns did not exactly match this file's hand-curated counts on independent re-check, so no individual case here is labeled with a "why" that this code cannot verify.
Drug swapped for a substitute and the container returned to circulation
137 of 723
Text names an act of replacing/refilling the drug with a named substitute (saline, water, an OTC pill, a cleaning product, etc.), OR uses swap/dilute/tamper to describe the same act, so the altered container went back into use looking unchanged.
Outright theft or embezzlement of stock (no substitution described)
120 of 723
Text uses stole/stealing/embezzled to describe removal of controlled substances.
Records, charts, orders, inventories, or receipts falsified to conceal the diversion
58 of 723
Text uses a form of "falsif-" within 60 characters of a record-type noun (chart, inventory, transaction, receipt, prescription, etc.).
Prescriptions fraudulent, forged, invalid, or written outside legitimate medical practice
53 of 723
Text explicitly characterizes the prescription(s) as fraudulent, forged, invalid, or issued outside legitimate medical practice (including "pill mill" language).
Automated dispensing cabinet used as the point of exploitation
30 of 723
Text names an automated dispensing cabinet/machine, or the acronym ADC, as part of the mechanism.
Waste/wastage claim used to cover the diversion, or wastage not witnessed
38 of 723
Text describes recording or claiming drug as "waste" (when it was not), pulling drug from a waste stream, or wastage that was not independently witnessed.
Cancelled, voided, or falsely entered dispensing-system transactions to hide the removal
11 of 723
Text describes cancelling, voiding, or falsely entering a system transaction (an order, a return-to-stock entry, a cancel entry) specifically to conceal a removal.
Facility-level failure to maintain accurate inventory or required records (not one employee concealing a theft)
24 of 723
Text states the FACILITY (not an individual concealing personal use) failed to maintain required inventory/records, or names a recordkeeping violation/negligent recordkeeping as the basis for the government action.
Drug obtained using a false identity, a fictitious patient, or impersonation
11 of 723
Text describes using a fictitious patient profile, a false name/identity, stolen patient information, or impersonating a licensed prescriber to obtain the drug.
Known or suspected loss/theft/diversion not reported to DEA or a licensing board
10 of 723
Text states a failure to notify or report a loss, theft, or suspected diversion to a regulator.
Disclaimer
Case summaries are based on public records (DOJ press releases, court documents, news reports). Charges are allegations unless a conviction is noted. Analysis is educational, not legal advice.
Last reviewed: September 2026 · Content is educational, not legal advice.