What Happened
Prosecutors alleged that an Anchorage nurse practitioner used her position to fraudulently give a patient and others vast quantities of prescription opioids, often prescribing without office visits, chart notes or explanation and sometimes taking refill requests via Facebook messages.
The charging document alleged she prescribed diazepam, oxycodone, tramadol, hydrocodone and Ambien to the patient, and that another person sold the opioids to the patient. The patient died of an opioid overdose in 2015 with diazepam, oxycodone and alcohol in her system; the nurse practitioner was indicted on 18 felony counts including manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, pleaded not guilty, and had her nursing license suspended.
What the Record Shows
Indicted on 18 felony counts including manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide plus drug distribution counts; pleaded not guilty; license suspended by the Alaska Board of Nursing.
Why It Matters for Diversion Programs
This entry comes from a news source rather than a federal enforcement release, and it is recorded as reported: Alleged: used position as a nurse practitioner to fraudulently give a patient and others vast quantities of prescription opioids; routinely prescribed controlled substances to friends and acquaintances without office visits, chart notes, rationalization, or explanation, often via text or the internet; agreed to meet to write a prescription after a request for pain pills.. Board and news records are a lagging indicator - by the time a licensing authority or a reporter learns of a diversion, the diversion was normally detected internally first, which makes each entry a signal that inventory reconciliation, waste observation or dispensing oversight failed earlier.