MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) — A registered nurse in Tennessee is accused of taking drugs from work and potentially putting multiple children at risk.
According to the order, Bailey K. Sullivan worked at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital from 2016 until 2019. The most concerning time period involved the first two weeks of July of this year. The Tennessee Department of Health’s Board of Nursing through the Tennessee Department of Health has suspended Sullivan’s license.
It’s unclear what prompted the hospital to do an audit, but as a result, hospital officials said they found 130 instances where she didn’t document the administration or disposal of controlled substances.
”That’s usually a red flag to administrators; there may be a situation where that employee is stealing those drugs for personal use or resale on the street,” patient advocate attorney Parke Morris said.
According to paperwork from the DOH, the audit found her mishandling more than 20 different types of medications and nearly 500 pills or other related items.
“461 is a staggering number,” Morris said. “That’s remarkable. That’s someone who has a serious problem.”
Morris handles a lot of medical malpractice cases like these. He said they bring up a lot of concerns about potential victims.
“One of the problems here is a lot of these are kids who might not be able to adequately express whats going on,” Morris said.
But Morris also gave Sullivan credit.
Documents show she admitted to having a drug addiction problem and submitted a statement saying “’some of the medications were used while I was at work’ and ‘I understand that working while impaired could potentially cause patient harm.’”
WREG went to Sullivan’s home in Bartlett to try to get a comment. No one came to the door, but WREG did speak with her next door neighbor, who said Sullivan hasn’t been around in more than a week.
Sullivan also hasn’t been working, as her license is suspended for an unspecified amount of time.
According to the order, she would have to go on probation for a minimum of three years in order to get it reinstated. Under probation, she’d have to do an evaluation and commit to monitoring.
WREG did reach out to Le Bonheur officials for a comment, bud didn’t receive a reply as of Tuesday evening.