A registered nurse in Wisconsin is facing up to 13 years in prison for allegedly stealing drugs from two hospitals. She told police she was using the drugs to cope with pain related to her fibromyalgia.
The nurse, Jessica J. Gums, was charged with five felonies in Eau Claire County Court, according to a detailed report from the Leader-Telegram. Those charges included two counts of theft, two counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and one count of possession of narcotic drugs. She is due in court on August 6.
According to the report, officials at HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, noticed that Gums was “becoming a high utilizer of drugs” and she was later fired. When the hospital tracked the frequency of drugs being secured from its radiology department on a month-by-month basis, it was revealed that Gums took 47% to 85% of the fentanyl being used by the entire department during one seven-month stretch.
Gums is also accused of stealing fentanyl from the Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire.
To read the full story from the Leader-Telegram, click the link below.
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.