What Happened
According to a Tennessee Board of Nursing consent order, a nurse anesthetist at Erlanger Baroness Hospital in Chattanooga admitted diverting unused fentanyl that would otherwise have been wasted after surgical procedures, starting in March 2025 and increasing to daily use by June.
Coworkers reported the nurse appeared impaired while on duty in the surgery center around June 30, 2025; the nurse failed a drug test and was fired. The board placed the license on probation while the nurse attended drug counseling, and the nurse has not been charged with any crime related to the case. The hospital's audit found roughly five instances in which its automated drug-diversion monitoring software did not flag missing drugs, along with dispensing and waste-documentation inconsistencies the system should have flagged.
What the Record Shows
Settled the Board of Nursing case by signing a consent order in November 2025; license placed on probation while attending drug counseling; not charged with any crime related to the case.
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: Admitted taking and abusing unused fentanyl that would otherwise have been wasted after surgical procedures, initially once or twice a week beginning in March 2025 and increasing to daily use by June 2025; coworkers reported the nurse appeared impaired while on duty in the surgery center on or around June 30, 2025, with slurred speech, extreme tiredness, swaying with eyes closed and head nodding; the nurse failed a drug test and was fired; a hospital audit found about five instances where the automated monitoring system did not flag missing drugs, plus additional inconsistencies between drug dispensing and waste documentation that should have been flagged.. 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.