What Happened
A former nurse at the Delaware Hospital for the Chronically Ill was arrested on March 21, 2014 and charged with obtaining a controlled substance by fraud or forgery, forgery, and falsifying a business record.
The charges alleged that between February 1 and March 18, 2013, the nurse forged other nurses' signatures on Controlled Substances sheets to indicate oxycodone had been given to patients while allegedly keeping the drugs for personal use. The investigation began after a hospital administrator reported illegal obtaining of oxycodone to Smyrna Police and was handled by the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.
What the Record Shows
Arrested and charged with three felony counts of obtaining a controlled substance by misrepresentation or fraud or forgery, seven counts of second-degree forgery, and one count of falsifying a business record.
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: Allegedly forged signatures of other nurses on Controlled Substances sheets to indicate oxycodone had been given to patients, while allegedly keeping the drugs for personal use.. 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.