Anesthesiologist Overdoses on Stolen Fentanyl

Around 12:50 p.m. Dec. 6, 2013, Dr. Timothy Sutton was found in a locked bathroom in the Cardiovascular Center, 1425 Ann St. in Ann Arbor, in cardiac arrest with a syringe and his doctor’s kit of pain medications, U-M police said. Hospital employees administered CPR and Sutton was taken to the emergency room.

Sutton was discovered after a nurse noticed the bathroom had been occupied for a long time and got a janitor to open the door.

Sutton, a resident in anesthesiology, later admitted to police he injected himself with fentanyl just prior to the overdose.

A vial of morphine was also missing from the kit, police said. Sutton told investigators that he used medication meant for patients more than once in the week preceding the overdose.

Sutton, of Ann Arbor, was subsequently charged with a count of larceny in a building, a 10-year felony, and use of a controlled substance, a misdemeanor punishable by one year in jail, court records show.

On March 6, the anesthesiologist pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor and the felony was dismissed, according to court records.

He is scheduled to be sentenced Friday in the 15th District Court.

Health system officials said Sutton is still with the hospital.

“He is on leave and not seeing patients,” said Michael Steigmeyer, a spokesman for the University of Michigan Health System.

Sutton’s state medical license is still listed as active with no formal complaints or disciplinary actions, according to the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs’ website.

That could change once Sutton is sentenced. It would be up to the state medical board to revoke his license. The board generally waits for criminal cases to go through court before making any decisions.

When asked if prescription drug theft was a problem at U-M health care facilities, Steigmeyer said via email, “Without question, the majority of our staff comply fully with all controlled substance laws and regulations.”

In Sutton’s case, Steigmeyer said the hospital followed the appropriate crime-reporting protocol.

“We are very confident that we abide by all polices, regulations and rules governing health care practitioners,” he said.
He pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor, but the case was wiped from his record, likely the result of an expungement, according to MLive.com. Sutton’s overdose happened the same day that a nurse fatally overdosed at a different building at the UM campus.

That sparked an investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration that in 2018 ended with UM Health System paying a record $4.3 million settlement to resolve accusations that it mishandled drugs. Federal prosecutors in Cleveland accused Sutton of committing the fraud from Jan. 26, 2018, through Oct. 21, 2020, while working for two telemedicine companies, according to the indictment in the case. Prosecutors did not identify the companies.

The settlement included the DEA providing strict guidelines for the handling and tracking drugs that the hospital system had to follow for three years.