Board: Nursing home worker stole painkillers and overdosed at work

Iowa Board of Nursing has suspended the license accused of stealing patient medications. (Photo illustration by Iowa Capital Dispatch; background photo by JGI/Jamie Grill/Getty Images)

The Iowa Board of Nursing has revoked the license of a nurse accused of stealing patient medications, being under the influence at work and falsifying records.

On Oct. 11, 2023, the Board of Nursing charged Maria Palmerin Vega with misappropriating medications, practicing nursing while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and falsifying records related to the practice of nursing.

The charges are based on conduct that allegedly took place in 2023 when Vega was working as a temp-agency nurse employed by Fusion Staff Solutions to work at the Edgewood Convalescent Home in Delaware County.

The board has alleged that in January 2023, within 10 days of beginning her assignment at Edgewood, Vega worked an overnight shift at the home and was observed going to her car in the facility’s parking lot at 12:45 a.m. A half-hour later, she was reportedly found unresponsive in the lobby of the care facility.

When emergency medical personnel arrived at the home, Vega was unconscious and gasping for air with a weak pulse, the board alleges. She was then given two doses of Narcan to reverse the effects of a suspected opioid overdose and was taken to a hospital for further treatment.

According to the board, a hospital drug screen reportedly showed the presence of benzodiazepines, marijuana and opiates in Vega’s system. In a subsequent interview with a Delaware County deputy, Vega allegedly stated she had taken hydrocodone for a toothache along with anxiety medication, and said she used marijuana about a week earlier.

The staff at the Edgewood home later found that a resident’s fentanyl — a powerful narcotic painkiller often delivered through a patch applied to the skin — was missing. On the floor of the staff breakroom, workers found two fentanyl patches that allegedly belonged to residents in Vega’s care. They also determined that someone had swapped another resident’s supply of prescription medications for Tylenol.

When interviewed again by a country deputy, Vega denied taking the residents’ narcotics medications and was at a loss to explain the opioids in her system, according to the board.

In January, the Board of Nursing conducted a hearing on the charges. With regard to the drugs swapped for Tylenol, the board concluded that it while it was clear “someone at the facility had misappropriated those medications,” there was not enough evidence to suggest Vega was the perpetrator.

As for her on-duty overdose, the board found the evidence suggested Vega stole two patients’ fentanyl patches at Edgewood, used them herself, and was under the influence of controlled substances while on duty. The board also concluded Vega had also falsely reported that one patient’s prescribed fentanyl was missing and another patient’s fentanyl had been destroyed or discarded.

As a result of those findings, the board revoked Vega’s license to practice in Iowa. Board records indicate Vega now lives in Georgia, where her license is listed as in good standing and unencumbered by any restrictions.

Court records indicate Vega was not charged with any crimes related to the alleged overdose or the suspected theft of residents’ medications.

Other Iowa nurses recently charged by or sanctioned by the Board of Nursing include:

— Stephanie Beveridge of Des Moines , who is currently charged by the board with misappropriating patient medications or supplies, failing to properly safeguard or secure medications, practicing nursing while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and being involved in the unauthorized possession or use of a controlled substance.

The basis of the charges has yet to be disclosed by the board, but they could be tied to Beveridge’s arrest last year on three felony counts of unlawful possession of controlled substances and one count of dependent adult abuse.

Police allege that while working at the Altoona Nursing and Rehabilitation care facility, Beveridge, 42, stole painkillers, including oxycodone, from several residents. The abuse charge is tied to prosecutors’ allegation that her theft from one resident caused that individual to “suffer in bed.”

In March, three months after her arrest and with all of the criminal charges still pending, Beveridge told the court she had just been hired to work at the Carlyle Care Center, another state-licensed nursing home.

A trial in the criminal case is now scheduled for Oct. 28. A board hearing on the licensing charges is scheduled for July 18.

Court records indicate that 10 years ago, in 2014, Beveridge was charged with five felony counts of illegally procuring controlled substances from the Deerfield Retirement Home in Urbandale. The charges were dismissed five months later when the Polk County Attorney’s Office informed the court that “after examining the records, talking to the witnesses and taking all things into consideration,” it was declining to prosecute the matter “because it is in the interest of justice to do so.”

— Jazmyne Jones of Sioux City , who worked the nightshift at Siouxland MercyOne in the hospital’s behavioral health unit in 2022, shortly before the staff discovered narcotic pain medications — including 93 tablets of hydrocodone, hydromorphone, and oxycodone — were missing. According to the board, electronic records indicated Jones was the last person to have accessed the narcotic supply. Jones denied taking any of the medications when questioned by Siouxland MercyOne.

Board investigators later alleged they found evidence that over the course of one year, Jones had obtained 27 prescriptions for painkillers from seven different care providers and three different pharmacies. She was then criminally charged with one count of misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance. In February, she pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to five days in jail. The board concluded that it was Jones who had access to the missing drugs, noting that the machine used to gain access was fingerprint-activated.

The board also found that Jones’ used of prescription drugs raised concerns about her ability to practice in a safe manner. The board suspended Jones’ license and is requiring her to submit to a substance abuse and mental health evaluation, and comply with any recommendations for treatment, before applying for reinstatement of her license.

— Charles Nji , who currently lives in Maryland. According to the board, Nji applied for an Iowa registered nurse’s license in early 2019, which was issued later that year. In 2023, Nji’s educational credentials were questioned in the wake of a wide-ranging federal investigation called Operation Nightingale, which was focused on businesses suspected of selling fake transcripts to individuals who relied on them to apply for licensure as nurses.

The board determined Nji attended Excelsior College in Albany, New York, from 2008 to 2010, but was dismissed from the program for submitting fraudulent transcripts related to his education in Cameroon. Nji then completed a series of online courses offered by a Florida company and obtained a degree in nursing without any clinical experience.

Although he lived in Maryland at the time, he applied for licensure in Iowa at the direction of his Florida instructors who informed him Iowa was more likely to accept his transcript and provide him with a license to practice, according to the board. Nji subsequently admitted to the Iowa board’s investigators that his licensure application included several false statements. The board recently revoked the license it granted to Nji in 2019.

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