Kristy Kindl: Registered nurse cops punishment at VCAT after forging prescriptions

A registered nurse who forged about 50 prescriptions at pharmacies in Melbourne’s east to feed her opioid addiction came unstuck thanks to the actions of an attentive pharmacist.

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia took action against Kristy Kindl who stole prescription pads and, over a five month period in 2018, forged and then presented about 50 prescriptions for oxycodone.

A registered nurse who forged prescriptions to feed her drug addiction has been banned from nursing for two years.

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia took action against Kristy Kindl who stole prescription pads and, over a five-month period in 2018, forged and then presented about 50 prescriptions for oxycodone (an opioid) at pharmacies across the eastern suburbs.

In a VCAT decision handed down on August 23, Kindl was reprimanded, had her nursing registration cancelled, and was disqualified from applying for registration as a health practitioner for two years.

According to the tribunal’s decision, Kindl stole blank prescription pages from a prescription pad of a medical practitioner who shared a consulting suite with her former husband.

Kindl forged prescriptions for oxycodone and presented them at a range of pharmacies in suburbs including Forest Hill, Balwyn and Mont Albert, over the five month period.

Kindl took some care to spread her attendances across the pharmacies, “presumably to try to avoid drawing attention to herself”, the tribunal’s decision said.

Kindl forged the prescriptions due to an opioid addiction she had developed after surgery in 2016, following which she was treated with what the Nursing Board’s health assessor later described as ‘regular high dose prescription opioids’.

Kindl’s activities were discovered by an attentive pharmacist who wished to confirm the authenticity of the prescription and so contacted the doctor whose name was shown as the prescriber.

Criminal charges were laid and Kindl made immediate and full admissions to police and also started treatment for her addiction.

Kindl entered into a diversion plan on December 11, 2018 at the Magistrate’s Court of Victoria, having accepted responsibility for the offences.

When that diversion plan was completed, the charges were discharged.

The tribunal’s decision noted Kindl behaved in a way that constituted “professional misconduct” and her nursing registration for the 2016, 2017 and 2018 years was improperly obtained because she gave the applicant health profession information that was false or misleading.