Drug Diversion

Drug diversion occurs when medication is redirected from its intended destination for personal use, sale, or distribution to others. It includes drug theft, use, or tampering (adulteration or substitution). Substance abuse and addiction ravage the nursing profession and nursing home industry.

Because of the unsafe working conditions, the short-staffing, and physical toll on the bodies of caregivers, many seek solace in narcotics and other medications. Drug diversion among healthcare workers is substantially underestimated, undetected, and underreported. It is a tragic shame of the profession.

Fox44News reported police charged Doreen Shetter, a caregiver at a Waco nursing home facility, with stealing a resident’s pain medication. The charges of theft of a controlled substance from a nursing facility is a third degree felony. Falsified records indicate drug diversion by the caregiver. An affidavit also stated that Shetter had committed a similar offense in August 2017.