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A drug-addicted nurse who added tap water to a painkiller prescribed for a 105-year-old nursing home patient in Topeka was sentenced to prison Friday in a case that critics say highlights regulatory gaps in Kansas' oversight of nurses.
U.S. District Judge Richard Rogers on Friday sentenced Wendy Parmenter to three years in prison under a plea deal that will allow her early release if she successfully completes a residential drug treatment program. As part of her agreement, the 37-year-old nurse can never work in health care again. State records show Parmenter still holds a valid license as a practical nurse.
Her case is among three federal prosecutions brought by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tanya Treadway in the past year against Kansas nurses who dilute painkillers prescribed for their nursing home patients.
Parmenter pleaded guilty in November to federal charges of product tampering and adulteration of a drug, admitting she was addicted to Hydrocodone and regularly used while employed in 2010 at the Rolling Hills Health Center in Topeka. She also admitted in the plea agreement that she frequently ingested morphine that was prescribed to her patients.
Court documents show that when one of the on-duty charge nurses reported discovering empty bottles of morphine sulfate to the nursing director, all personnel were ordered to have oral-swab drug tests. Parmenter failed, but passed two subsequent urine tests after convincing another employee to provide urine which she submitted as her own.
In November 2010, a co-worker told Parmenter that a bottle of morphine — prescribed for a 105-year-old woman who suffered from dementia and chronic pain — was low. Parmenter added tap water to the bottle to conceal that she had ingested it and placed the bottle on the cart used to dispense medication, according to her plea agreement.
Parmenter already had a history of drug abuse when she was hired in June 2010. She had been caught stealing Hydrocodone in April 2010 from her patients at the Flint Hills Care Center, a nursing home in Emporia, and pleaded guilty to a state charge of stealing Hydrocodone that August. Parmenter was placed on diversion, a form of probation that can result in the defendant's conviction being erased.
Brett Klausman, vice president of operations at Midwest Health, which manages the nursing home, told The Associated Press last year that Parmenter's case is a "prime example" of a situation in which the nursing home had no information about the previous conviction, noting the Kansas Board of Nursing showed she had a license in good standing.
A drug-addicted nurse who added tap water to a painkiller prescribed for a 105-year-old nursing home patient in Topeka was sentenced to prison Friday in a case that critics say highlights regulatory gaps in Kansas' oversight of nurses.
U.S. District Judge Richard Rogers on Friday sentenced Wendy Parmenter to three years in prison under a plea deal that will allow her early release if she successfully completes a residential drug treatment program. As part of her agreement, the 37-year-old nurse can never work in health care again. State records show Parmenter still holds a valid license as a practical nurse.
Her case is among three federal prosecutions brought by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tanya Treadway in the past year against Kansas nurses who dilute painkillers prescribed for their nursing home patients.
Parmenter pleaded guilty in November to federal charges of product tampering and adulteration of a drug, admitting she was addicted to Hydrocodone and regularly used while employed in 2010 at the Rolling Hills Health Center in Topeka. She also admitted in the plea agreement that she frequently ingested morphine that was prescribed to her patients.
Court documents show that when one of the on-duty charge nurses reported discovering empty bottles of morphine sulfate to the nursing director, all personnel were ordered to have oral-swab drug tests. Parmenter failed, but passed two subsequent urine tests after convincing another employee to provide urine which she submitted as her own.
In November 2010, a co-worker told Parmenter that a bottle of morphine — prescribed for a 105-year-old woman who suffered from dementia and chronic pain — was low. Parmenter added tap water to the bottle to conceal that she had ingested it and placed the bottle on the cart used to dispense medication, according to her plea agreement.
Parmenter already had a history of drug abuse when she was hired in June 2010. She had been caught stealing Hydrocodone in April 2010 from her patients at the Flint Hills Care Center, a nursing home in Emporia, and pleaded guilty to a state charge of stealing Hydrocodone that August. Parmenter was placed on diversion, a form of probation that can result in the defendant's conviction being erased.
Brett Klausman, vice president of operations at Midwest Health, which manages the nursing home, told The Associated Press last year that Parmenter's case is a "prime example" of a situation in which the nursing home had no information about the previous conviction, noting the Kansas Board of Nursing showed she had a license in good standing.
