Former UW Nurse to be Charged with Diverting Drugs, Reckless Injury
- Case number: 14-00815
- Incident date: March 13, 2014, 12:00 pm
- Incident type: Drugs
- Location/address: UW Hospital
On March 13, 2014, the UW-Madison Police Department was contacted by officials with UW Hospital about an internal investigation they were conducting regarding a nurse who was suspected of stealing pain-management drugs intended for patients.
UWPD investigators learned that Stefanie A. Jones, 31, of Cottage Grove, had been diverting drugs from patients in at least 42 different instances. A hospital investigation and subsequent police investigation revealed Jones had been accessing the morphine syringes from a secured machine, and replacing them with syringes that contained water or another unknown liquid. She then took the morphine syringes for herself. Hospital staff became aware of the issue when a pharmacy technician noticed that red tamper-evidence caps on the drug syringes had been tampered with.
Jones admitted to hospital staff that she was diverting the pain killers and taking them for herself, and had been doing so since October 2013. She is no longer employed by UW Hospital.
UWPD investigation concluded that Jones had diverted 42 morphine and hydromorphone syringes for herself — it’s unclear how many patients were affected by her actions. The investigation revealed she had recklessly endangered human life, as she replaced the drugs with water or an unknown liquid — drugs meant for patient care, for pain management.
Jones was arrested on Thursday, June 12 and will be charged with 42 felony counts of Diversion of Drugs and 42 counts of Reckless Injury.