Burnie nurse’s registration cancelled after she was caught self-injecting from drug bags

A nurse working at Burnie’s hospital has been deregistered for sticking syringes in bags of a powerful painkiller, and injecting herself on days when she was “struggling”.

The North West Regional Hospital in Burnie. Picture: AAP/Simon Sturzaker

A nurse working at Burnie’s North West Regional Hospital has been deregistered for sticking syringes in bags of fentanyl, and self-administering the powerful painkiller on days when she was “struggling”.

In a decision published this month, the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal found Esther Chivinda had behaved in a way that constituted professional misconduct, reprimanding her and cancelling her registration as a nurse.

The nurse, who was suffering complex pain, has been prohibited from reapplying for registration for a period of two years.

Tribunal deputy president Alison Clues said in July 2021, the hospital’s nurse unit manager was made aware that bags of fentanyl infusion were leaking in the intensive care unit’s dangerous drug safe, or had finished early during infusions.

Fentanyl drug and syringe on black table with reflections and stainless background.

“An assessment of fentanyl bags was undertaken, which showed evidence of deliberate tampering including penetration by a needle,” Ms Clues said.

Investigations revealed Ms Chivinda – a contracted agency nurse – had been accessing the painkiller, with allegations she’d done so on more than 20 occasions.

“In a recorded interview with AHPRA (Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency) investigators, the respondent admitted to accessing the fentanyl bags in the dangerous drug safe by inserting a needle into the bags and withdrawing some of the contents and self-administering it. She stated that on the days she was struggling she would take some of the fentanyl,” Ms Clues said.

Ms Chivinda was found to have been suffering from subacute complex pain from a large leg ulcer, and was also dealing with a “chaotic” personal situation with few resources and supports.

Ms Clues said Ms Chivinda had also previously told AHPRA of other past behaviours – including once for vandalising a colleague’s car and also for forging her supervisor’s signature to access restricted medications for a patient.

The tribunal found her Burnie conduct was serious and had demonstrated “a lack of honesty, moral integrity and rectitude of character”.

Ms Clues said while she had not been criminally charged, the nurse had stolen from the Burnie hospital.

She said while Ms Chivinda was suffering serious pain and difficult personal life circumstances, this did not excuse the seriousness of her breaches of law and standards for registered nurses.

Ms Clues said while there were “no specific adverse consequences” for the patients given bags of fentanyl Ms Chivinda had tampered with, it was apparent that “adverse health consequences could have occurred” – and they did not receive the correct amount of painkiller prescribed.

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