We have many times reported on the theft of sharps bins for the drug waste that they contain, and on cases where healthcare staff and waste handlers had targeted these wastes even before they had left the hospital. Older reports can be found using the site search system or browsing the current Clinical Waste Discussion Forum files, or by browsing the articles in the three archive sets (these archives do not feature in the site search system). The most resent such report can be read here.

Now another case has come to light, in which a determined nurse stole directly from the IV bags prepared for his patients!

“A Kimball man has been charged in federal court with siphoning pain medication from patient IV bags at St. Cloud Hospital and replacing the stolen medication with saline solution.

“The allegations in the charge against Blake Daniel Zenner, 42, and the time frame in which they occurred, mirror events from March 2011 when the hospital accused an unnamed nurse of introducing bacterial infections into 23 patients while stealing pain medication from patients’ IV bags for personal use.

 “Zenner is charged with one count of fraudulently obtaining hydromorphone hydrochloride [a powerful opioid analgesic drug], commonly sold as Dilaudid, according to the complaint filed in US District Court in Minneapolis.

It takes all sorts.

http://www.sctimes.com/article/20120905/NEWS01/309050028/Kimball-man-charged-medication-theft-hospital?nclick_check=1