Kansas City Injury Lawyer Blog

In the past year, federal prosecutors have brought several cases against Kansas nurses for allegedly diluting painkillers prescribed for patients in nursing homes. These cases have demonstrated flaws in the regulation of the nursing profession in Kansas, according to several medical professionals. Tampering with prescribed medications, particularly powerful painkillers, certainly puts patients at risk by depriving patients of needed care and compromising doctors' knowledge of their patients' conditions.

In one case, Wendy Parmenter, a nurse at a Topeka nursing home, was accused of tampering with narcotics and stealing them for her own use on several occasions in 2010. Another nurse reported finding empty morphine bottles, which led the nursing director to order all employees to undergo oral-swab drug tests. Parmenter reportedly failed the test, but then passed two urine tests by substituting another employee's urine for her own. She also allegedly diluted a bottle of morphine with tap water after using some of it. The morphine was intended for a 105 year-old patient suffering from chronic pain and dementia.

Prosecutors charged Parmenter with product tampering and adulteration of a drug. She admitted to addiction to narcotics, saying she would often take painkillers prescribed for patients under her care. She entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors in November 2011. A federal judge in Wichita sentenced her to three years in prison on February 2, although she may qualify for early release if she completes a drug treatment program.

Parmenter, it turned out, had a history of painkiller abuse when the nursing home hired her in June 2010. Two months earlier, while working at a nursing home in Emporia, she had been caught stealing the painkiller hydrocodone from patients. She pleaded guilty to a state charge of drug theft in August 2010 and received probation. This information was not available to the nursing home in Topeka when it hired her. Because of what critics call flaws in Kansas' system of regulations for nurses, the state's Board of Nursing indicated at all times in 2010 that her nursing license was in good standing.

Continue reading "Kansas Nurse Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for Drug Tampering" »

Several years ago I resolved a case against a nursing home that involved a course of inadequate care. The turning point in the case was the fact that the inadequate care came down to the fact that the nursing home was not properly staffed and nurses that did provide care were burdened beyond their ability to give reasonable care.

More important than lawyers or lawsuits, studies show that when people select a nursing home for a family member, they give high importance to how well the nursing home is staffed. While staffing information usually comes in the form of resident/nurse ratio, this data does not tell the whole picture. Hiring practices, selection, training, supervision, and the development of nursing policies, protocols, and procedures are all vital components of a well-staffed nursing home.

In fact, our nursing home negligence cases confirm that cases of strong liability are usually the cases where the nursing home is not properly staffed.

With regard to a recommendation, families should be informed about staffing before they place their loved one in a nursing home. However, finding out which nursing homes have adequate and properly trained and supervised staff is difficult. For instance, The Center for Medicare and Medicaid recently developed a rating system that is available on the internet in order that consumers could make better choices in nursing home placement. Unfortunately, the rating system is not really informative when it comes to critical staffing information and criteria. The best information can come from the families with current or past residents.

A further recommendation- If you already have a family member in a home, keep a good record of the names and contact information of the nurses and other employees responsible for the care. Get to know them on a first-name basis and make sure you show appreciation for their efforts. Remember, at the end of the day, the nurses or care-giver has very important responsibilities and a major impact on the health and comfort of your loved one.