DANVILLE — A Geisinger Medical Center registered nurse, who admitted to being addicted to the painkiller Hydromorphone, allegedly signed out an unusual amount of the drug under a specific patient's name, but did not give the patient the drug, from March through Wednesday.
Mahoning Township Cpl. Clay Fahringer charged Amber D. Zwolinski, 22, of 609 E. Front St., with acquisition by misrepresentation, providing false information on hospital records related to dispensing narcotics, possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and theft. The painkiller was allegedly found in her purse at work.
Montour County District Judge Marvin Shrawder arraigned her and released her on $20,000 bail Wednesday.
It could not be determined Thursday if she is still an employee at the hospital.
If convicted of the charges, she could lose her nursing license.
A routine audit conducted by Geisinger personnel showed Zwolinski was signing out an unusual amount of the drug, police said. Further investigation showed she signed out the drug under a patient's name but didn't give it to the patient, police said.
The preliminary investigation showed about 40 questionable transactions, according to the charges.
Staff at Geisinger interviewed her Wednesday, and she submitted to a random drug test. The results are unknown at this time, police said.
After she consented to the staff checking her purse, hospital staff members found seven vials of Hydromorphone containing 4 milligrams along with three syringes and banding material.
Reached for comment Thursday, Geisinger spokesman Justin Walden said, "It is our policy not to comment on an open investigation."
He wouldn't say how often this type of incident occurs and only said, "We have a process to conduct investigations of these types of issues." He would not say if Zwolinski was still working at Geisinger and could not be reached later in the day.
Zwolinski admitted to police to being addicted to Hydromorphone, saying she started taking the drug around March, when she was depressed over personal issues, and became addicted.
She told police she didn't neglect to give the drug to patients who needed or requested it. She said she would sign out the drug under the name of a patient who was authorized to have the drug but who did not request it. Hydromorphone it is given mostly by request to a patient for pain management. She told police she never used the drug while on duty but would self-administer it when off duty.
In January, former Geisinger RN Traci Nicole Lapaglia, 27, of Bloomsburg, was charged with illegally possessing narcotics 30 times, but the charges were later dropped and she waived her right to a preliminary hearing on failure to keep required records. Among the drugs listed in those charges were Hydromorphone, Fentanyl, Percocet, Roxicet and morphine. She had been charged with obtaining up to four times the amount of painkillers prescribed to patients, giving patients the appropriate amount and keeping the rest.
Montour County District Attorney Robert Buehner Jr., at the time, said the charges, filed by the state attorney general's office and Mahoning Township police, were dropped after examining the evidence and witnesses.
n E-mail comments to kblackledge@dailyitem.com.
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Police: Nurse stole narcotic painkiller
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