Incidentcase16

A former registered nurse at an Altoona nursing home now faces charges she stole medication Nichole S. Soyster, 46, of 362 Chandelle Drive, Martinsburg, turned herself in to Altoona police and state attorney general narcotics investigators on Tuesday to face felony and misdemeanor charges stemming from an alleged incident in May where police contend Soyster took liquid morphine sulfate from vials.

According to charges filed in the case, Soyster allegedly took morphine from vials assigned to two patients and replaced it with another liquid while working at Hillview Chateau, a senior living center at 700 S. Cayuga Ave.

Hillview staff notified police of the alleged theft and attempt to hide it after a coworker discovered a discrepancy while doing an inventory of the medical cart in the D wing of the facility during a shift change on May 12.

According to the charges, Soyster worked the overnight shift and before she started, she and the preceding employee in charge of the medical cart checked the inventory and everything was correct. Soyster, who was the RN supervisor, had the only key to the cart, which included two 15 ml vials of morphine sulfate — one for each patient prescribed the medication.

The vial for one of the patients was new and still in the box and the one for the second patient had 13.75 ml in it.

Police said when Soyster and her relief coworker inventoried the cart after Soyster’s shift, Soyster allegedly said she opened the new box of morphine sulfate but didn’t use any of it because the patient was asleep when she went to administer the medication.

Police said the coworker noticed the vial that was supposed to be new was not a full 15 ml and so she refused to sign off and accept the cart. When she asked Soyster what they had to do next, Soyster allegedly never responded, so the coworker reported the discrepancy and an internal investigation began.

The coworker also noticed the liquid in the two vials were different shades of purple and the vial that wasn’t supposed to be full was fuller than 15 ml.

The two vials were taken and turned over to Altoona police. The vials were then sent for testing and in late December, police received the results. Police indicated that the vial that was supposed to have 13.75 ml of the drug actually held 21 ml and the supposed new bottle was less than full.

The test also showed the concentration of the drug — which was supposed to be 20 mg/ml — was diluted in both. One vial had a concentration of only 10.2 mg/ml and the other showed 13.3 mg/ml.

When questioned about the vials on Feb. 19, Soyster allegedly told investigators she “was confused as to why we were interviewing her and she was reminded of the incident at Hillview,” Altoona police noted in the charges.

Soyster denied that she diluted or took the medication, police added.

Soyster’s attorney, Brian Manchester, did not return a call for comment Tuesday.

A preliminary hearing is slated for March 13 at Central Court. Soyster remains free on an unsecured $10,000 bond.