Meredith Carol Coulson: VCAT decision cancels Austin hospital nurse registration after prescription medication script forgery

A veteran Melbourne nurse who has been helping the sick for 30 years has been busted drugging herself and family members using forged scripts to score powerful sedatives.  

Meredith Coulson had been working at the Austin Hospital. Generic image.

A veteran Melbourne nurse who has been helping the sick for 30 years has been busted drugging herself and family members using forged scripts to score powerful sedatives such as oxycodone, also known as “hillbilly heroin”.

Up until 2019, Meredith Coulson, who worked at the Austin Hospital had a faultless professional record, but that all changed when a Lower Plenty pharmacist spotted some irregularities on a script she handed in and alerted the authorities.

The tribunal heard, in 2019, while working night shifts at the hospital, Coulson was also caring for one seriously ill family member and another with long-standing mental health conditions and a history of drug addiction.

During the period she also developed an addiction to sedatives.

“As a consequence of the development of a mild addiction … and as a result of a misguided plan to manage the health conditions of the two family members, Coulson stole prescription pages, forged prescriptions and obtained medications,” the tribunal stated in its decision.

“She took some of those medications herself and gave others to the two family members she was supporting.”

One of the medications Coulson sought to access with the forged script was oxycodone, a semisynthetic opioid, as well as the benzodiazepines Diazepam and Temazepam.

Coulson was working at the Austin Hospital when she started abusing drugs. Generic stock photo.

The tribunal heard in May of 2019, while Coulson was working at the hospital, the director of nursing wrote and alleged that she had been “visibly impaired”.

The director of nursing described Coulson’s reactions as “slow and uncoordinated on that occasion”.

Coulson’s explanation for this at the time was her personal circumstances and family challenges.

Soon after Coulson was stood down from work, she wrote a letter and asked if her undertaking not to practice could be reconsidered.

“I have made many positive changes to my life that ensure I never fall into the dark place that led to my unprofessional conduct,” Coulson wrote at the time.

VCAT has formally reprimanded Coulson and cancelled her registration for a six-month period.

“Engaging in criminal acts which result in 18 criminal findings of guilt is clearly a substantial departure from the standards to be expected of a registered nurse with 30 years’ experience,” the tribunal wrote.

“That conduct does not reflect the moral integrity and rectitude of character to be expected of a registered nurse.”

However, the tribunal also wrote it “did not hold significant concerns” for public safety should Coulson work in health care again.

Coulson was busted forging scripts in 2019. File image.

In total, 70 charges were laid against the nurse.

By the time the matters reached the Magistrates’ Court in February 2021, Coulson pleaded guilty to 18 charges — one charge of theft, one charge of an attempt to commit an indictable offence, one charge of obtaining property by deception and 15 charges of forgery.

During the sentencing, the court heard from a work colleague who described Coulson as having an “outstanding work ethic and proven honesty, honour and integrity”.

Coulson was interviewed by Austin Health and resigned in January 2020.