Nursing Assistant Pleads Guilty to Sucking Medication From Patient’s Pain Patch
Thursday, November 10th, 2005.
Westernport, MD - Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. announced today that Megan Oglesbee, a Nursing Assistant at Moran Manor Nursing Home in Westernport, Maryland, pleaded guilty in the District Court for Allegany County to one count of neglect of a vulnerable adult for removing a 72-hour pain patch from a nursing home resident and sucking out the medication.
Oglesbee entered a guilty plea to Second Degree Neglect of a Vulnerable Adult pursuant to a written plea agreement. Judge Noel Spence, sitting in retired status, visiting from Washington County, sentenced her to 18 months in jail, all suspended, and placed the defendant on three years supervised probation. Two special conditions of her probation are that Oglesbee complete all alcohol and substance abuse drug treatment including an aftercare program and testing, and the defendant cannot work in the hands on care field of vulnerable adults for the period of her probation. Judge Spence also fined Oglesbee $1000, all suspended, and ordered her to pay court costs of $57.50.
On October 15, 2004, Oglesbee, 21, of the 200 block of Airport Street in Keyser, West Virginia, was a nursing assistant at Moran Manor, taking care of Norman, a vulnerable adult resident of the nursing home. Norman’s doctor had prescribed a 72-hour Duragesic transdermal patch for him, which has a strong time release pain medication. The day after the patch was applied, Oglesbee removed the patch. She then stuck a pin in the patch and sucked out the medication. She attempted to replace the now empty patch on Norman but it would not stick. Oglesbee asked another nursing assistant to get tape to assist with the reapplication but the assistant became suspicious as to why the patch would just fall off. At that point, Oglesbee admitted to taking the patch off the patient and using a pushpin to allow her to remove the medication. The patch still had 36 hours of medication in it.
This case was prosecuted by Attorney General Curran’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, which has jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute abuse or neglect of vulnerable adults in facilities that receive Medicaid funds.
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