Massena Nurse Faces Drug Theft Charges
MASSENA - A registered nurse at Massena Memorial Hospital was charged Wednesday with stealing drugs for her personal use.
Massena Village Police charged April L. Lamberton, 31, of 37 Bishop Ave., Massena, with a felony count of first-degree falsifying business records and a misdemeanor charge of petit larceny. Lamberton allegedly made false entries in the hospital records to conceal that she was removing drugs from the emergency room pharmacy for her personal use. She was released on an appearance ticket.
Lamberton, in a statement she provided to village police investigators, said she violated protocol and procedures and removed 2 milligrams of Dilaudid from the emergency room pharmacy shortly after reporting to work to begin her shift at 11 a.m. Wednesday
. Dilaudid, according to the National Institute of Health, is a Hydromorphone used to treat moderate to severe pain.
She said she went into the bathroom and injected the Dilaudid and then went back into the pharmacy and took 125 milligrams of Demerol in two doses. "I was having major withdrawals from not having any narcotics because I had been off work for two days," Lamberton said in her statement.
The registered nurse said she was confronted by the emergency room director a short time later.
Lamberton, in the statement she reportedly signed for police, admitted she had been taking drugs for her own use from the hospital pharmacy for the last six months.
She said she had started using Demerol and Dilaudid in the liquid form. "I do not remember how it started, but I would sometimes take it home and use it instead of wasting it from a patient's order from there. I guess it got out of hand," according to the 10-year hospital employee.
Lamberton said sometimes she used her personal identification number to log into the medical dispenser system and take drugs without an order. Other times, she said, she rushed to the system right after another hospital employee had logged in and not logged out and dispensed medication for her own personal use.
"I am very sorry for what I have done. I did not realize I had such an addiction. I only started taking drugs to help me sleep at home. It then just got too easy and things got out of control. At no time did I ever withhold medications for my personal gain," she said in her statement to police.
She was released on an appearance ticket for Tuesday in Massena Village Court.
