Nurse pleads guilty to replacing vials with saline while working at Wisconsin hospital

A former nurse at SSM Health St. Mary's Hospital in Janesville, Wis., has pleaded guilty to tampering with vials of fentanyl while working at the facility in 2021, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Wisconsin said May 8. 

According to a plea agreement, Dawn Drum, RN, replaced vials of fentanyl with saline and put them back into the hospital's automated medication dispensing system, making the tampered vials available for use on other patients. An audit of transactions in the medication dispensing system indicated Ms. Drum had "an excessive pattern of fentanyl overrides and wastes when compared to other employees in 2021." 

Ms. Drum refused a drug test and resigned from her position when hospital management confronted her over the matter, according to the attorney's office. The plea agreement recommends the court impose an 18-month sentence and a $30,000 fine for Ms. Drum. A sentencing hearing has not been scheduled.

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