A former nurse at Nashville, Tenn.-based Hughston Orthopedic Clinic at TriStar Centennial allegedly wrote more than 100 prescriptions for pain killers for herself in three years, according to a KREM 2 report.
Here are five things to know:
1. The nurse is accused of writing herself 104 prescriptions for 8,764 pills of hydrocodone and 2,880 pills of the muscle relaxer Soma. She wrote the prescriptions over a three-year period using blank, pre-signed prescription slips.
2. The prescription slips she used to prescribe for herself were originally intended for patient refills. When her actions were discovered in October 2017, the nurse was fired.
3. In August, the nurse's license was suspended in connection with the fraudulent prescriptions. She is eligible to regain her license after completing the Tennessee Professional Assistance Program designed to rehabilitate addicted medical professionals.
4. The nurse said a physician gave her permission to use the blank prescription sheets to prescribe pain medication that would treat her long-term, surgery-related pain. The nurse claimed she didn't do anything wrong.
5. The nurse had worked at The Hughston Clinic for around four years before she began writing prescriptions for herself.