PT Ripped Patches Off Patients
Posted on 14. May, 2010 in News Stories
Hilary Hartwig had a strange habit. She would visit certain patients in various assisted care facilities and rip off transdermal patches of Fentanyl (a narcotic painkiller) from their bodies. However, she didn’t do this out of some misguided altruism or principles. She did it to get high.
After being caught and confronted by police, Hilary admitted that she was addicted to Fentanyl. After stealing the patches, she would stick them to the roof of her mouth to get her fix. Some of the patients she stole from were not even aware of it.
Hilary, 35, administered physical therapy as a contract worker in these facilities, although interestingly, she was not a licensed physical therapist. She was arrested and charged with theft.
Full news story here.
Earth Angel
May 17th, 2010
Sad, to risk so much when you have the knowledge of what your problem is and what you need to do to fix it, and by fixing it, I don’t mean stealing patient’s medication.
What_the_Heck
May 19th, 2010
Yeah EA you are right. Unfortunately once you are enthralled by the sickness of addiction, facing it and dealing with it is not so easy regardless of the fact that you know you have it. Denial is the strongest addiction to try to overcome.