A Florida nurse accused of tampering with a consumer medication, injectable hydromorphone, pleaded guilty to the charges Oct. 3, and faces up to 10 years in federal prison.
According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Florida, in October 2022, Katherine Jee Rankin, was fired from a surgical center after her employer discovered she had forged an anesthesia record. Before leaving the premises, she took four vials of injectable hydromorphone with her, which was later discovered on a surveillance camera.
Ms. Rankin also reportedly confided in coworkers that she had an addiction to the drug. She later turned over the vials and "explained that she had removed the hydromorphone, replaced it with saline, glued the caps back on, and then put [the] vials back in the inventory so that [the] surgical center's drug count would be correct," according to the release.