A 39-year-old former registered nurse at a New Haven hospital was sentenced to 16 months in federal prison for tampering with and stealing lorazepam, a medication used to treat anxiety. The nurse reportedly took at least one vial of lorazepam from a secure storage location, swapped out some of its contents with saline solution, and returned the vial to storage.
The conduct came to light when hospital staff conducted searches of employees as part of an internal drug tampering investigation. The missing items were found in the nurse's backpack.
The prison term was set to begin on October 21, 2025. The nurse's license was also suspended, preventing a return to nursing practice before or after the sentence.
The case is one of several in Connecticut in which a clinician substituted saline for a controlled substance, leaving patients exposed to diluted or ineffective medication.