Nurse ‘knee-deep’ in opiate addiction stole fentanyl from vulnerable patient, feds say

A New Hampshire nurse is facing prison time after she pleaded guilty to stealing fentanyl from an ICU patient’s IV bag and replacing it with saline, federal officials said.

In 2022, Lisa Richardson, 48, a nurse at Concord Hospital, waited for her coworker to go on lunch before entering an ICU patient’s room, according to a plea agreement filed Sept. 30 in U.S. District Court.

She shut the blinds and switched some of the fentanyl in the patient’s intravenous bag for saline, the document said.

In a second incident, Richardson entered the patient’s room when the assigned nurse went to the bathroom and was seen using a syringe to take fentanyl from an IV bag, documents said. Richardson was confronted by hospital administrators and told them “nothing happened,” the court documents said.

In a later interview with administrators, she said she’d been using drugs for a year, the plea agreement said.

Richardson was interviewed by officers and admitted to “obviously” having an “opiate use disorder and that at the time she was knee deep in (her) addiction,” the plea agreement said.

She admitted to stealing fentanyl from ICU patient IV bags on four separate occasions, the document said.

Although Richardson said she knew diluting the fentanyl could have an effect on the patient’s pain level, she said, “well I’ve been a nurse for a long time ... the dilution of 10 cc’s is minimal and that’s how I rationalized it in my crazy head,” the document said.

Richardson, who had worked at the hospital for 23 years, with 18 years in the ICU, pleaded guilty to tampering with consumer products, according to an Oct. 7 news release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Richardson’s attorney declined to comment when McClatchy News reached out on Oct. 8.

McClatchy News also reached out to Concord Hospital on Oct. 8 for a comment and was awaiting a response.

The charge carries a sentencing of no greater than 10 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000, prosecutors said.

The Northfield woman is scheduled to reappear in court for her sentencing on Jan. 16, officials said.

This story was originally published October 8, 2024 at 4:14 PM with the headline "Nurse ‘knee-deep’ in opiate addiction stole fentanyl from vulnerable patient, feds say."