State Fines RN For Fentanyl Abuse, Disciplines Four Others

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The Board of Examiners for Nursing this week disciplined five nurses for cases involving alcohol or drug abuse, including one nurse who stole Fentanyl patches from nursing home patients.

In a consent order with the board, Ashley Dizney of Southington, a registered nurse and an advanced practice registered nurse, agreed to pay a $1,000 fine and be placed on probation for four years for abusing Fentanyl to excess in January 2017. That month, she stole Fentanyl patches from patients in nursing homes in Torrington and Waterbury while working for Connecticut Mental Health Specialists of Farmington, the order said.

From 2015 to 2017, Dizney also used alcohol and multiple controlled substances to excess, the order said. She chose not to contest the allegations against her.

The board on Wednesday revoked the license of Denise Meadows, a licensed practical nurse from Hebron, for abusing Dilaudid and cocaine to excess in 2016, the board’s memorandum of decision said. While working at VITAS Healthcare in Waterbury, Meadows stole the painkiller and falsified a controlled substance receipt, the memo said.

The memo also said that Meadows abused alcohol from 2011 to 2016.

On Wednesday, the board also placed the LPN license of Kristin Brice of Fairfield on probation for two years under a consent order agreed Brice agreed to. The order said that in 2014 and 2015, while working for Soundview Medical Associates in Norwalk, Brice wrote prescriptions for herself for Diazepam, an anti-anxiety drug, and the painkillers oxycodone and oxycodone with acetaminophen. She also used those drugs to excess during that period, the consent order said.

The board also suspended the RN license of Karina Francis of Colchester, saying that from December 2016 to February 2017, she used controlled substances to excess and she poses a danger to the public, state records show. Francis was diagnosed in December with opioid use disorder and repeatedly tested positive for Xanax, cannabis and amphetamines, records show.

The board also suspended the LPN license of Frances Pisaturo of East Haven, saying that while working at PSA Healthcare in Stratford this year, she used marijuana to excess and posed a danger to the public, state records show.

 

 

 

20 thoughts on “State Fines RN For Fentanyl Abuse, Disciplines Four Others

  1. It’s sad to see nurses who have to go through something like that. I hope that since we are all in the health industry, help for the reason they did what they did is also a part of the correction action.

  2. And what the scores of doctors that abuse those same drugs. If past history shows anything, it’s that the licensing boards turn a blind eye to these same infractions, when doctors are involved!

  3. I myself am an LPN, I have a NY and FLA license. I don’t want to sound like I’m playing the race card game, but if these nurses, and ARNP would of been a minority, the consequences would have been “really severe”. That is all I have to say.

  4. You are playing the race card, and the ignorant card. Nowhere in the article does it disclose their race. You are just assuming, and that’s wrong.

  5. It is what it is….. nurses don’t become drug abusers. Abusers become nurses for access. When they accept help they get to keep their license. A lot of nurses have mental issues that are not addressed whether is ADD or ADHD. Don’t just become educated for a job, use that knowledge to fix yourself. When you don’t you end up like these nurses.

  6. It is sad for these ladies . We all worked hard for our licenses . Many of us the sacrific we made to obtain these license should not ever be forgotton . If any nurse is tempted to use or gets where they need help please turn for help before it comes down to harming a patient or yourself. Many of us single moms our kids need us or our elderly moms need us . Please nurses think of that and ask for help.
    Also nurses never leave without making sure the narcotic count is right and ask for someone to watch when you waste that control substance .
    I hope the board has a system and counsiling for these nurses .

  7. I would advise you to research the board members and tell me if you come to the same conclusion. I was there in person on Thursday and I can tell you the board was honorably fair in all cases brought forth.

  8. Ive been a LPN, then RN for over 38 years…and know the rules/regs of the State Board of Nursing. These comments you ppl are posting are so absurd!!!…really?!!. These nurses have drug addiction issues, and the Board of Nursing is trying to assure they pay the consequences for their actions, and hopefully these addicts will seek help to change their lives. To even mention the word “minority” shows nothing but pure ignorance on your part. You should be glad the Board of Nursing removes nurses like this out of the health industry so they won’t be at the bedside of you and your loved ones when you fall ill. PS… doctors that are found to have addictive issues are handled by the State Medical Board, not the nursing board. SMH

  9. Yes Lizette! You ate 100% CORRECT. Im proving this in a lawsuit right now. Im an RN. I know how the State Board deals a different hand and protects other than “minorities”. …

  10. Yep! You too are CORRECT Joe. Sad world we live in. Good, caring nurses can get set up by the BAD ones. I experienced it! Im an RN and my license was jepordized by a suspected, impaired nurse. By the time she was fired several residents had DIED. CORPORATION SOLD! The nurse still working. PRAY HARD!

  11. I work in the field as well and it’s about time they do something they need to stop turning there heads some of these coworkers are worst than the patient and there’s help out there !!!!! And they should be testing everyone from time to time

  12. Very true Lizette above, had those nurses been minorities they would’ve gotten discipline. One another note, they finally see that “good upright” people can be addicts too.

  13. As a registered nurse for both Connecticut and Massachusetts for over 28 years I have to say that if the punishment was loss of license they may think twice. They endanger and abuse patients by their theft and get a slap on the wrist ? This is unacceptable. As far as the physicians they should also have their licenses pulled permanently as well. The board of Registration needs to be tougher and end this once and for all !!!

  14. True girl. It’s the sad truth. Those nurses are losers to begin with and make all nurses look bad. We already struggle for respect. I’m multiracial, 3 races. I’m part white but it wouldn’t count. The field is pro white female a lot. If you’re new, blond, stupid, and thin, you get to become charge nurse 6 months after graduation. You get hired because you are eye candy. What the fuck does that have to do with CPR? This field promotes incompetence, laziness, and ass kissing. Shame on all of them. People are supposed to trust us.

    If you have a problem get help. Don’t suck the system dry and be a dead weight to the profession.