Former nurse Erin Linvog was sentenced to one year in prison for tampering with narcotic pain medication in Washington state, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Linvog, 34, was a registered nurse at Fidalgo Care Center & Rosario Assisted Living in Anacortes, Washington. She pleaded guilty in April 2013 to tampering with consumer products and acquiring a controlled substance by fraud or misrepresentation.
U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones said Linvog ‘showed reckless disregard of others’ pain and risk of overdose… The only reason you stopped was you were caught… you violated every single notion of what we expect from a nurse.’
According to court documents, Linvog began stealing narcotics from the facility in late 2011 and used her position to order morphine for patients, but then diverted the medication for her own use. She would remove liquid morphine from medicine bottles and replace it with tap water before returning the tampered bottles to the facility’s medicine carts.
The morphine was intended to alleviate the pain of terminally ill patients, but Linvog’s conduct meant that patients received inadequate amounts of medication, creating the risk of overdose or unnecessary suffering. The facility discovered Linvog’s conduct in February 2012, leading to her termination.
At sentencing, Deborah Kelly, the daughter of one of Linvog’s patients, said, ‘My mom in her last month of life was suffering tremendously… The last year and a half I have been kicking myself that I trusted (Linvog) to be a better person than she was.’
The case was investigated by the United States Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations, and the Anacortes Police Department. Assistant United States Attorneys Steven Masada and Jerrod Patterson prosecuted the case.
Linvog’s sentence was criticized by prosecutors, who wrote to the court that her offense conduct was ‘egregious’ and that she ‘knowingly placed highly vulnerable patients at substantial risk of harm.’
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Key Facts
- State: Washington
- Category: Drug Trafficking
- Source: DOJ Press Release ↗
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