UPDATE 2:26 PM:A Salina nurse who was addicted to painkillers has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for stealing morphine from the nursing facility where she worked, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said today.

Melanie French Morrison, 25, Ft. Riley, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of consumer product tampering and one count of adulteration of a drug. In her plea, she admitted that in May 2009 she was fired from Wesley Medical Center for taking Percocet from the hospital’s drug supply without a physician’s order and without documenting that she administered it to a patient.

In August 2009, Morrison went to work as a charge nurse at Holiday Resort Nursing Facility in Salina. Because she was addicted to pain medications, she took syringes from the medical room, removed morphine from its vials and replaced it with sodium chloride solution to hide the theft. She would take the morphine-filled syringes home and inject the morphine.

In February 2010, a nursing director was preparing an injection for a patient and discovered that someone had tampered with multiple vials. The nursing director had Morrison submit to a urine drug test, which was positive for opiates.

 

ORIGINAL: A Salina nurse who diluted morphine solutions at a nursing home is due in court for sentencing.

Melanie Morrison was scheduled be sentenced Friday in federal court in Topeka for consumer product tampering and adulteration of a drug at the Holiday Resort Nursing Facility in Salina.

Morrison admitted putting sodium chloride into solutions of morphine sulfate, reducing the painkiller’s quality and strength. Sodium chloride is dangerous to some patients, particularly those with congestive heart failure or severe renal insufficiency.

Morrison struck a deal with prosecutors that could send her to prison for three years. She also agreed to surrender her nursing license and never work in health care again.

Prosecutors are recommending she be admitted to a drug addiction program, which could get her out of prison early.