Nurse Busted Stealing Vials Of Fentanyl From A Hospital

LISTEN TO TLR’S LATEST PODCAST:

Steve Birr

Authorities arrested a nurse found stealing vials of fentanyl from a hospital in North Carolina Monday that nearly caused an officer to suffer an overdose.

Police were investigating Hayley Lammon Brown, who worked as a nurse at Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem, since April after they discovered a number of stolen fentanyl vials at her home while responding to an overdose call for her husband. Sgt. Joseph Johnson with the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) came into skin contact with the drug while conducting the investigation of Brown, and was subsequently hospitalized, reports WFMY News 2.

Representatives for North Carolina’s SBI said Sgt Johnson was released after making a full recovery.

“It’s definitely more potent when it’s ingested or shot up through syringes,” Tara Tucker, a captain with Forsyth County EMS, told WFMY. “Physical contact is a lower risk factor, but as first responders people should be wearing their gloves when they’re going into those types of scenes.”

“Since it’s not regulated by the FDA, the potency is unknown,” she added. “You never know what substance you’re getting.”

Forsyth Medical Center fired Brown following her arrest and the North Carolina Board of Nursing suspended her nursing license. Brown faces a felony count of Embezzlement of a Controlled Substance by Employee and one misdemeanor count of Assault on a Law Enforcement Officer.

The Drug Enforcement Administration issued new guidance to police departments across the country in June on how to handle heroin and other narcotics due to the increasing prevalence of fentanyl. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein warned it only takes two milligrams of fentanyl, “the equivalent of a few grains of table salt,” to cause a fatal overdose.

Fentanyl overtook heroin as the deadliest substance in the U.S. in 2016. Synthetic opioids, including fentanyl and its analogs, claimed roughly 20,100 lives in 2016, up from 9,945 in 2015.

Follow Steve on Twitter

WATCH TLR’S LATEST VIDEO: