Following the discovery that a nurse stealing morphine may have caused the hepatitis C breakout at Ogden, Utah-based McKay-Dee Hospital, officials and patients are increasingly worried about how to prevent employees from stealing drugs from hospitals, according to KSL.com.
McKay-Dee Hospital sent letters to approximately 4,800 people who might have been in contact with the nurse or a patient infected with hepatitis C. The nurse in question, Elet Neilson, was fired after admitting to stealing emergency drugs.
The issue remains a large problem for Utah, a state which has disciplined at least 84 nurses, pharmacists or pharmacy technicians for stealing medications over the past decade.
But it is also a problem for hospitals across the nation. Abuse of drugs is "rampant in communities across our country," said Christine Nefcy, MD, CMO of McKay-Dee Hospital. "Hospital personnel, hospital employees aren't any different."
Scott Byington, president of the Utah chapter of the National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators, believes numerous cases of stealing drugs aren't reported to law enforcement each year.
"A lot of clinics or hospitals, when they catch employees doing theft, I would say more go unreported than reported," Mr. Byington said. "All of a sudden somebody doesn't show up for work and the rumor mill starts going."