First Choice Surgical Center, a Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based ambulatory surgical center, has agreed to pay $125,000 to the United States to resolve allegations that it violated civil provisions of the Controlled Substances Act.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, First Choice Surgical Center failed to maintain complete and accurate records concerning the controlled substances it purchased and dispensed and failed to provide effective controls and procedures to guard against theft and diversion of controlled substances.
The settlement resolves allegations that First Choice Surgical Center failed to maintain complete and accurate records concerning the controlled substances it purchased and dispensed and failed to provide effective controls and procedures to guard against theft and diversion of controlled substances.
As part of the settlement, it was revealed that Sabrina Thalblum, a registered nurse at First Choice Surgical Center, had been tampering with vials of fentanyl in August 2019. Thalblum stole the fentanyl for her own use, withdrawing it from vials, reinjecting saline into the vials, and returning the vials, which now contained less than declared values of fentanyl, to storage at First Choice Surgical Center.
In January 2021, Thalblum pled guilty in federal court in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to charges related to the theft and, in January 2022, was sentenced to five years’ probation.
First Choice Surgical Center is affiliated with Fox Eye Laser & Cosmetic Institute, P.C., a practice performing laser vision correction and cataract surgery. The settlement resolves allegations that First Choice failed to maintain complete and accurate records concerning the controlled substances it purchased and dispensed and failed to provide effective controls and procedures to guard against theft and diversion of controlled substances.
The case was handled by Assistant United States Attorney Brandon J. Gray and was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Office of Diversion Control.
Key Facts
- State: Iowa
- Category: Drug Trafficking
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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