Nurse Megan Victoria Jeffrey sentenced for stealing morphine from Wyong Hospital
A Wyong Hospital surgical nurse has been sentenced for swapping morphine for saline-filled syringes to self medicate a back injury, a court has heard.
Central Coast
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A 47-year-old nurse has been sentenced for stealing morphine and hydromorphone from Wyong Hospital after a CCTV camera was installed in the medication room, a court has heard.
Megan Victoria Jeffrey faced Wyong Local Court on Wednesday where her lawyer, leading criminal solicitor Samantha McKenzie, described the offences as “very serious matters”.
The court heard Jeffrey became addicted to pain medication following a back injury she suffered at work a few years ago.
Ms McKenzie said Jeffrey had since taken “significant steps towards rehabilitation” but lost her job as a registered nurse.
Jeffrey pleaded guilty to one count of larceny as a public servant stealing 60mg of morphine and 6mg of hydromorphone between December 8 and January 17.
She also pleaded guilty to making a false or misleading entry in the hospital’s drugs of addiction registry, which is an offence under poisons and therapeutic goods regulations.
A further 17 charges of larceny, making false statements and self-administering a restricted substance were withdrawn and dismissed.
An agreed set of police facts states Jeffrey, of Gorokan, had been a registered nurse for 20 years, 14 of which were at Wyong Hospital.
The facts state she was working in Surgical Ward 1 where her actions were monitored after the installation of a CCTV camera in the medication room on November 30.
The day before the nursing unit manager reinforced the correct procedure for drawing drugs of addiction, which had to be done into syringes in front of a witness nurse.
At 9.02pm on December 8, 2020, Jeffrey was seen on CCTV to retrieve a syringe and a bottle of saline from the medication room and left.
About 9.10pm she retrieved a 10mg/1ml ampoule of morphine from the wall safe with a witness nurse.
She drew the morphine into a syringe in front of the witness nurse and went to the sink while giving instructions to her colleague in relation to the drug register.
“The accused has stood at the sink and has reached with her left hand into her right front pocket and retrieved an item, in which police allege was another syringe filled with saline,” the facts state.
“She has used her right hand and placed the syringe with morphine into her right pocket. The accused has recorded in the drug register that she has administered 2.5mg of morphine to patient TM and discarded 7.5mg.
“The accused has updated the patient’s records to reflect that patient TM has received an injection of 2.5mg of morphine”.
The facts state she used the same sleight of hand on several further occasions to steal a total of 60mg of morphine and 6mg of hydromorphone.
She tried to do it again on December 31 about 5pm but “the witness nurse monitored the accused’s actions which has prevented the accused from substituting the hydromorphone for saline”, the facts state.
On January 27 Central Coast Health conducted an internal investigation in relation to the theft of medications, in which Jeffrey was interviewed and made “full admissions”.
On February 9 police attended her address.
“The accused participated in an interview by way of body worn video, in which she made admissions to all offences 1 to 19 inclusive, stating that she had substituted the morphine and hydromorphone with a saline solution,” the facts state.
“She states that she was using the morphine and hydromorphone, due to a back injury which she occasioned during her employment a few years ago.”
The multiple thefts were later all rolled into the one count of larceny.
Magistrate Elizabeth Ellis said Jeffery suffered “extra-curial punishment” in the loss of her career and what had been “a spotless life”.
“You are a good woman [but] you made such an appalling lapse of judgment,” Ms Ellis said.
She sentenced Jeffrey to a community corrections order for two years with the condition she abstain from alcohol and any unprescribed drugs.
Ms Ellis also ordered Jeffrey to perform 250 hours of community service.
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