Nurse Diverted from Two Facilities, Including VA

Sentenced Lisa Marie Jones, 43, to 14 months in prison after she pleaded guilty to stealing fentanyl, morphine and hydromorphone from the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Denver and UCHealth in Aurora in 2016 and 2017. Jones drew concern while working at a UCHealth six-bed emergency department facility in Aurora when a pharmacist in February 2017 determined a vial of fentanyl had been tampered with, according to court documents. She earlier had been flagged for high use of fentanyl at UCHealth, where she had begun working in November 2016. A sample of her hair tested positive for fentanyl and morphine even though she did not have a prescription for their use.

Despite that positive drug test, Jones was able to secure work as a contract nurse at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Denver from March 10, 2017, through April 27, 2017, her plea agreement states. The VA, where she had worked earlier in 2016, was not aware of her firing from UCHealth, court documents state. At the VA, she stole for her own use hydromorphone from vials intended for patients. She refilled those syringes with saline.

Jones was investigated by the Colorado State Nursing Board, which reinstated her nursing license in August after she agreed to participate in a monitoring and drug treatment program, her plea agreement states.

Jones had sought leniency from the judge, saying she suffered trauma due to being raped by a neighbor when she was 12. She added that she first became addicted to painkillers that were prescribed to help her recovery from dental surgeries. Jones also claimed that adding to her stress were the needs of her 14-year-old son, who struggles with a cleft lip and palate.

Federal prosecutors said Jones should not be shown leniency because her multiple thefts involved tampering with the vials that contained the painkillers. She would take those vials into a bathroom, where she then diverted painkillers from the vials for her own use. She then would refill the vials with saline and reseal the vials with skin glue, according to court filings. That tampering put patients at risk of not receiving adequate pain relief because their drugs had been diluted, and also at risk of being contaminated with infectious diseases, the prosecutors said in court filings.

See also: North Colorado Medical Center