The state Board of Examiners for Nursing disciplined three nurses on Wednesday, including suspending the license of an East Hartford nurse who tested positive for alcohol just two months after being placed on probation for alcohol abuse.
The board suspended the license of the licensed practical nurse, Nicole Miller, because her positive test in June violated her four-year probation, state records show. State Department of Public Health officials said her continued practice as a nurse presents a danger to the public.
In April, the board imposed the four-year probation on Miller and required her to undergo random drug and alcohol testing because, state records show, she had abused alcohol and/or opiates to excess in 2016 and 2017.
The board also suspended the registered nurse license of Kimberly Eldridge of Coventry for testing positive for alcohol in April, in violation of an agreement she had with an alternative program for health professionals called the Health Assistance InterVention Education program, or HAVEN.
State records show that HAVEN referred Eldridge to DPH due to the positive alcohol test results. Eldridge has a prolonged history of alcohol abuse, and her continued practice as a nurse presents a danger to the public, department officials said in recommending the suspension.
The board on Wednesday also placed the RN license of Nancy Laporta of Stafford Springs on probation for three months, according to a consent order she agreed to. In 2017, while working as a nurse at Apple Rehab in Rocky Hill, Laporta failed to obtain a doctor’s order required to admit a patient to the facility, the order said. She also inappropriately documented the doctor’s telephone orders without the knowledge of the doctor, the order said.
During the probation, Laporta must complete a course on the scope of an RN’s practice, the order said. Laporta chose not to contest the allegations against her.