Diversion of Narcotics

Debbie Armstrong, a licensed Indianapolis nurse of 17 years was charged with four felonies related to patient medications. She was responsible for 19 drug discrepancies such as oxycodone and hydrocodone in the Waters of Indianapolis Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center. Despite what nursing home residents and families may hope, these charges are not new habits for nurse Armstrong.

In 2019, the health care employee was arrested for public intoxication, which she failed to disclose when she applied to renew her nursing license. She also failed to disclose her 2019 job termination for “absenteeism” in this renewal process. However, the Indiana State Board of Nursing agreed to overlook Armstrong’s charges and termination and allowed Armstrong to renew her license in return for a simple $1,000 fine.

As a result of Board’s negligence, the veteran nurse has now been charged with, “Obtaining a Controlled Substance by Fraud or Deceit,” “Failure to Make, Keep, or Furnish Records,” and “Furnishing False or Fraudulent Information”— all of which are Level 6 Felonies. Additionally, Armstrong further endangered SNF patients by committing  the Level 5 Felony of “Interference with Medical Services.”

To the state’s nursing board or to the millionaires running nursing home facilities, the topic of corruption in nurses may seem to be a small or unimportant issue, but in reality, this issue may be detrimental to the vulnerable individuals in the facilities, as well as their family members. Gaye Mladenoff is one example of this, as she said she was “just shocked” when she found out about nurse Armstrong’s fraud.

Mladenoff is the daughter of Linda Gallaty, a former resident at the Waters of Indianapolis who passed away in January 2024. While the nursing home never informed her of her mother’s trouble with nurse Armstrong, WRTV news team reached out to notify her of an instance when nurse Armstong recorded Linda’s anxiety medication as being “dropped”.

After “dropping” her mother’s Clonazepam pill, there was never any indication that the anxiety medication was replaced. It is unknown how many times Linda was refused her anxiety medication by the nurses, or if this contributed to her untimely death from congestive heart failure.

While digesting the shock of the situation, Mladenoff told WRTV news that she felt betrayed by the nursing facility in withholding this information. “Nobody contacted me,” she said. “I feel like I should have known.”

Considering her mother’s serious anxiety disorder, Mladenoff worries that the difficulty of living in a nursing home and potentially life-saving medication being withheld simply caused her too much stress, and eventually led to her mother’s untimely death.

“I sure think anxiety, if it’s not medicated properly, it’s not good for someone who has a heart failure condition,” said Mladenoff. “The stress alone does weigh on your body.”

Mladenoff further explained her hurt in saying, “It’s very upsetting to think that you would take something from somebody who can’t defend themselves.” Unfortunately, her mother is only one of six nursing home residents listed as alleged victims in this case against Nurse Armstrong. However, she was one of many more families across the U.S. who remain completely unaware of the dangers their family members actively face, due to the deceptive nature of nursing homes.

Katie Feley, the chief executive officer at the Indiana State Nurses Association, reminds families of their rights, stating that, patients and their family members are always entitled to see their medication charts at any hospital, nursing home, or healthcare facility upon request.

Meanwhile, this simple fine Armstrong had to pay in return for violations is customary for Indiana’s board of nursing. Typically, the Board counts an offender’s violation and then calculates how much they should have to pay to keep their license. As Emily Cox, a spokesperson at the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency explained, “The Indian State Board of Nursing has the authority to impose a fine in an amount not to exceed $1,000 for each violation of law…”

Regardless of whether one considers this option a bribe or a bailout, countless Indiana nurses with criminal offenses have and continue to, opt for this option in order to have their license granted or renewed.  When nurse Armstrong was able to do this to escape each of her violations, she said herself to WBTV, “I had to pay a fine. That’s as easy as it gets.”

These overlooked charges in the state’s nurses are likely a major contributor to the 155 total administrative complaints that the Attorney General’s Office filed in front of the nursing board in 2024. In fact, 27% of the complaints included charges engaging in fraud or material deception in order to obtain a license.

The situation appears to be worsening as 2025 has already seen 45 total complaints, 24% of which included the engagement of fraud/material deception to obtain a nursing license.

The state of Indiana is clearly aware of the mass issue of dangerous fraud around nurses, as the Indiana State Nurses Association recently aired a podcast designed to help drug-addicted nurses overcome their addictions. The popularity of this content makes it clear just how normalized the situation has become.

Regardless of the causes or “efforts” working to stop it, there are clearly still nurses like Armstrong endangering patients on a daily basis. The families of residents at this Indiana Nursing home are fortunate enough that the facility’s own Director of Nursing alerted the Indiana Attorney General’s office about the nurse after she was found too many times “standing at the medication cart asleep,” “possibly under the influence,” and “licking her lips and picking at the skin on her face and arms a lot.”

All of these blatant signs of the nurses’ corruption that were overlooked only worsens the pain for the families of the victims. Mladenoff has contintued to keep up with the case, in search of some familial reconciliation. “I’m not a vindictive person,” she says, “but I feel justice is justice.”