An Allegheny County hospital is facing a federal lawsuit by nurses who said they were retaliated against after they reported a fellow nurse for working while under the influence.
The lawsuit, unsealed earlier this month, claimed the nurse at Heritage Valley Sewickley would swap drugs like Valium for saline, then fake-dispose of the “medication.”
The other nurses claimed the man would take the drugs into the staff bathroom or his truck.
They said they complained repeatedly to hospital management, but believe the nurse was being protected by one senior leader who knew the nurse since he was a boy, and who also very likely knew the nurse had had his license suspended for drug theft and use previously, before it was reinstated ahead of his employment at Sewickley.
The other nurses claimed over time, a camera aimed at the medication dispensing system was removed and photographic evidence presented to management was ignored, even as DEA agents visited the hospital to investigate the nurse.
They also said four incidents involving patient care were never reported to the state. They said one patient died after the nurse came back from an injection break and gave the patient the wrong medication. Another patient, they said, died after he left the ER against medical advice and fell because the nurse had taken so long to treat them.
They said a third patient almost died after bleeding out while waiting for the nurse to triage a deep cut on their hand.
A fourth patient was forced to endure severe pain for hours after the nurse swapped their morphine with Saline, the lawsuit claimed.
As of Tuesday, the nurse had not been charged criminally, which is why their name is not included in this report. Neither Allegheny County Police nor Sewickley Borough Police said they were investigating the claims criminally.
PA Department of State staff, who oversee the nurse’s active license, did not confirm or deny the existence of an investigation on their end.
“The Department reviews every potential license violation it is alerted to, whether that is through a complaint filed with the Department, a notification from local law enforcement, or through media reports,” a spokesperson wrote.
Neither the nurse nor Heritage Valley leadership, nor their attorneys, responded to requests for comment about the claims. It’s not clear if the nurse is still employed by Heritage Valley.
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