A nurse has been sentenced to 37 months in prison for tampering with and stealing controlled medications while working at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, N.Y., the Justice Department said Dec. 13.
An investigation determined that Kelsey Mulvey, 30, stole medications — including the potent opioid Dilaudid — from several of the hospital's medical dispensing cabinets for her own use between February and June 2018. In some instances, Ms. Mulvey would divert the drugs and not administer them to the intended patient, the Justice Department said.
Prosecutors said Ms. Mulvey also replaced some drug vials with water, which resulted in at least 81 patients not receiving proper medications, according to The Buffalo News.
Between June and July 2018, Roswell Park also reported an outbreak of waterborne infections that sickened six cancer patients. A hospital investigation identified the cause of the infections as tampered vials of compounded hydromorphone, the generic version of Dilaudid. Hospital officials said affected patients were treated with antibiotics and recovered, according to The Buffalo News.
Ms. Mulvey was placed on administrative leave in 2018 after she was observed entering Roswell Park and accessing a dispensing machine on a scheduled vacation day. She resigned in lieu of termination and was convicted of tampering with a consumer product in March 2021, also surrendering her nursing license at that time, according to ABC affiliate WKBW.