Nurse Surrenders License After Cameras Catch Diversion

A former nurse at a Hot Springs nursing home is accused of stealing medication from residents in October and falsifying records indicating she had given the drugs, authorities said.

The nurse was arrested Dec. 20 at the Hot Springs Police Department and charged with obtaining a controlled substance by fraud. She was later released on $3,500 bond and is set to appear in Garland County District Court.

At the time of her arrest, the nurse indicated she was unemployed, but she reportedly worked at Lakewood Therapy and Living Center, 260 Lakepark Drive, when the alleged fraud occurred.

According to a probable cause affidavit, the administrator at Lakewood filed a report with police on Oct. 10 after reviewing video surveillance footage at the center following a complaint by a resident about some missing Nexium pills.

In viewing the footage, he reportedly saw a nurse, identified as the nurse, removing a hydrocodone pill from the medication cart shortly before 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 9 and placing it in her mouth, the affidavit said. The administrator counted the pills in the cart and compared it to the entries made by the nurse in the prescription log book.

He then spoke to the residents the nurse had indicated received their pain medication and found two residents who had not received any medication, authorities said. One patient told him the nurse had refused to give her any hydrocodone at the prescribed time but instead gave her a Tylenol pill, according to the affidavit.

The administrator noted he has video evidence of 17 “pill diversions” by the nurse and is still reviewing the footage to compile more evidence, police noted.