WASHINGTON — Six nurses at Sibley Hospital are being investigated by the D.C. Department of Health after dozens of drugs disappeared.
The health department was notified by Sibley Hospital about missing drugs in June 2015. Two nurses had their licenses suspended by the agency in August.
The four remaining nurses are being investigated to see whether or not controlled substances were unaccounted for either due to a documentation error or because they were improperly taken.
According to the D.C. health department’s licensing administration, one of the suspended nurses is accused of using the “override” command on the hospital drug distribution system 19 times to withdraw medications without a proper order. She allegedly had Dilaudid, lorazepam, and Percocet without valid prescriptions.
The other suspended nurse allegedly told a Health Department investigator in July that she had resigned from an earlier job at Walter Reed Medical Center after refusing to take a drug screening test during an investigation into whether she had improperly taken medications at Walter Reed.
Administrative documents, first reported by NBC 4, show the nurse told the investigator she had prescription pain medications, including fentanyl and morphine, for chronic leg painand Lyme Disease. The nurse also reported undergoing treatment for substance abuse, but investigators say they were not presented with evidence of her prescriptions, or addiction treatment.
“Sibley Memorial Hospital has a zero tolerance policy for any inappropriate use of controlled substances by hospital employees,” said Gary Stephenson, spokesperon for Sibley Hospital, in a statement. “While we are not at liberty to discuss personnel issues we can assure you any such inappropriate use of controlled substances would be addressed quickly and aggressively, because the safety and well-being of our patients are always our top priority.”
