Catherine Shannon Dunton, 54, stole 450 vials of fentanyl from the Surgery Center at Jensen Beach in Florida for personal use
A disgraced Florida nurse in her 30s has been convicted of stealing hundreds of vials of fentanyl and using the drug on herself.
Catherine Shannon Dunton, 54, took 450 doses of fentanyl, injected herself, and then filled the vials with saline over a three-month period between February and April 2022.
She was caught when colleagues at the Jensen Beach Surgery Center were doing an inventory and noticed the missing medication.
An investigation was launched and CCTV footage was used to identify Ms Dunton as a suspect, according to court documents reviewed by the Associated Press.
Her license was temporarily suspended after an employer-required drug test came back positive for fentanyl in March 2012.
Ms Dunton admitted during a medical examination that she also drank at least one bottle of wine and four to five vodka drinks a day while under a substance abuse control contract.
She now faces up to 10 years in prison, followed by up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to a quarter of a million dollars.
Mrs. Dunton introduced herself in 2018. She admitted to stealing nearly 500 vials of fentanyl from the hospital to use on herself and then filling the vials with saline to give to patients
Fentanyl — an intense synthetic opioid responsible for the deaths of more than 70,000 Americans each year — is typically used as an anesthetic during surgeries and to relieve pain after surgery.
But in recent years it has flooded the illicit drug supply as traffickers use it as a cheap and powerful adulterant.
Mrs. From September 2021 to April 2022, Dunton worked in the care of surgical patients in Jensen Beach, about 70 miles north of West Palm Beach.
She pleaded guilty to tampering with a consumer product on April 11 in federal court in Fort Pierce, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
On or around 24 May 2022, Ms. Dunton replaced by dr. Lawrence Wilson, a doctor who specializes in addiction medicine and psychiatry, is conducting an investigation, according to documents from the Florida Department of Health.
Mrs. Dunton told Dr. Wilson that she traded “Demerol, morphine, fentanyl and Percocet for personal use” in 2008 while she was a registered nurse at Lanwood Regional Medical Center in Fort Pierce, Florida.
She said she signed a substance abuse supervision contract with the Intervention Project for Nurses (IPN) in 2009, but admitted to drinking at least one bottle of wine and four to five vodka drinks a day for the first three years of the contract.
In 2011, while still under contract and working as a registered nurse at Lanwood Regional Medical Center, she exchanged and injected 50-1,000 mg of fentanyl from the center at least three days a week for health, according to Florida Department of Health records. .
Mrs. Dunton and her husband John in 2019 who live in Port Saint Lucie, Florida. The couple has two sons
Ms Dunton took vials of fentanyl citrate, a liquid form of fentanyl used by doctors to keep patients calm and ease their pain during surgery, and injected it herself.
In March 2012, a drug screening test requested by the employer tested positive for fentanyl, resulting in the suspension of her nursing license until 2017 when she completed her monitoring contract with IPN.
Mrs Dunton said dr. Wilson that in March 2021 she started drinking a bottle of wine and three to four alcoholic drinks a day. She said that she sometimes drank alcohol early in the morning and passed out.
Her family is worried about her drinking, she said.
She was then placed at The Surgery Center in Jensen Beach, Florida around September 2021.
Between February and April 2022, she said them took vials of fentanyl citrate, a liquid form of fentanyl that doctors use to keep patients calm during surgery and ease their pain after surgery, and injected himself two to three days a week.
To avoid detection, Ms. Dunton replaced nearly 450 vials of narcotic pain medication with saline and then returned the counterfeit vials to the center for use during outpatient surgical procedures, the investigators said.
Mrs. From September 2021 to April 2022, Dunton worked as a registered nurse at The Surgery Center at Jensen Beach (pictured), about 70 miles north of West Palm Beach.
She switched between fentanyl and morphine by “removing the metal cap, removing the contents and replacing the contents with saline.”
Ms Dunton admitted she knew there were times when patients only received the saline solution. That meant the patients went without their necessary pain medication after surgery, according to documents from the Florida Department of Health.
Prosecutors have ordered a Food and Drug Administration anesthesiologist to testify that surgery patients receiving diluted fentanyl are not safe.
Fentanyl is ‘the biggest challenge facing the US as a country’
Fentanyl is the “biggest challenge facing the United States as a country,” the Homeland Security Secretary said.
Poor pain control can also lead to an increased risk of heart attack or stroke in vulnerable patients, officials said.
Manipulation of the vials also carried a risk of contamination, which could lead to infection during or after surgery.
Dr. Wilson has m. Dunton diagnosed with a severe opioid use disorder and a severe alcohol use disorder and claimed she was unable to practice nursing “with reasonable skill and safety for patients.”
On 13 February 2022, Ms Dunton posted on Facebook that she was “still in love”.[d] my career after 30 years’.
In her most recent Facebook post, June 2, 2022, Ms. Dunton is requesting donations to the Florida Alcohol and Drug Abuse Association for her birthday.
She said, “I chose this non-profit organization because its mission means a lot to me.”
The powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl is 50 times more powerful than heroin and 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine.
The cheap and highly addictive drug is used by doctors in patients with severe pain or terminal illnesses.
Fentanyl was invented in the United States in 1959 as a cheaper alternative to other painkillers used in hospitals and health centers around the world.
Three chemicals, benzylfentanyl, 4-anilinepiperidine and norfentanil, are considered by the DEA to be precursors to fentanyl – meaning they are key ingredients in the manufacture of the drug.
It binds to opioid receptors in a person’s nervous system, which are responsible for making the body feel comfortable when activated.
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Crystal Leahy is an author and health journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a background in health and wellness, Crystal has a passion for helping people live their best lives through healthy habits and lifestyles.
