Substance abuse counselor abuses substance

Theresa Zody, a certified substance abuse counselor in Richmond, had her license suspended by the board last week, according to this consent order.

The board of counseling alleged that Zody had an addiction to narcotic pain medications. Zody agreed to enter inpatient therapy but then got in trouble for not leaving her clients with the proper care while she was absent. It looks like the board might take further action, pending another hearing.

Pills, pills, pills

A pharmacy technician in Salem had her license yanked last month for helping herself to more than 200 dosage units of various drugs during the course of her employment at a Kroger pharmacy.

Rebecca Dressler, according to this order, told investigators from the VA Department of Health that she diverted:

139 dosage units of butalbital — commonly used for treatment of headaches
43 dosage units of carisprodol — a muscle relaxant
30 dosage units of fluoxetine — an antidepressant
5 dosage units of hydrocodone — pain relief

Athletic trainer solicits sex

Ramanuj Naik, 38 of Chantilly, was arrested by Fairfax County Police last summer for exchanging instant messages with a detective posing as an underage teen.

Naik, an athletic trainer, had his license suspended by the state board of medicine in September as a result of the conviction, according to the order.

He is now a registered sex offender.

Nursing home abuse

Working as a nurse or nurse aid in a nursing or private home is a stressful and often thankless job.

Unfortunately, the evidence of abuse against residents in such care is plentiful.

Two nurses recently had their licenses revoked by the board of nursing for incidences of abuse against patients:

Over the past few years, Sarah Green was both verbally and physically abusive to residents in nursing homes throughout South Boston.

Green allegedly grabbed the arms of several residents and threw a wet wash cloth at another. Green denied all instances of abuse. Nonetheless, her license was yanked by the board in mid-October.

Brandy Fiddemon of Parksely, according to the consent order, was also aggressive with patients. The order also says she spit in another patient’s glass of water and tried to put wet linens back on the bed of other residents. She was fired form one job after a resident was found in their room, soaked in urine.

Fiddemon denied all allegations, but still had her license revoked by the board Oct. 1

Hydrocodone

There are many documented cases of pharmacists, nurses and doctors diverting drugs for their own use — specifically hydrocodone.

Here is a case where a pharmacy technician in Christiansburg admitted to diverting some 30 doses of hydrocodone. But after examining at records for the year that Jennifer Hines was employed, the pharmacist in charge at Davidson’s Pharmacy ended up filing a DEA report for loss of controlled substances for some 288 dosage units of hydrocodone.

Hines had her license indefinitely suspended by the board.

Hydrocodone is a popular drug for diversion. It is habit forming and used to treat pain. I know people who have used left over doses from an injury to alleviate the effects of a hangover.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice:

“Hydrocodone diversion and abuse has been escalating in recent years. In 2006, hydrocodone was the most frequently encountered opioid pharmaceutical in drug evidence submitted to the National Forensic Laboratory Information System… In the 2005 Drug Abuse Warning Network combination products were associated with more emergency room visits than any other pharmaceutical opioid with an estimated 51,225 emergency room visits. Poison control data, medical examiners’ reports, and treatment center data all indicate that the abuse of hydrocodone is associated with significant public health risks, including a substantial number of deaths.”

More information on the drug can be found here.

Denied

When a health professional is suspended by their respective board he or she sometimes has the option to request their license be removed from suspension.

Abhay Aggroia, a doctor in Woodbridge, has a laundry list of violations with the board of medicine.

Abhay told Virginia State Police in 2004 that he had a sexual relationship with a patient, which would have been considered lewd and offensive to other patients, the order says. The doctor also got in trouble for prescribing 40 units of Percocet to a patient with no documented diagnosis. Then, on Nov. 2 2005, Abhay was convicted of one felony charge of dispensing Oxycodone.

In Nov. 2005, Abhay had his license suspended. He just recently filed for reinstatement.

Abhay was denied.

Funeral home keeps cash

K.L. Jordan Funeral and Cremation Services, based in Churchill, had its license pulled by its governing board for not providing refunds of overpayment to family members of deceased.

Jordan Funeral received two over payments from life insurance companies in the rough amounts of  $3,000 and $67,000. Instead of giving that money back to the relatives, the funeral home tried to keep the cash.

On both occasions, the funeral home was contacted by phone and in writing to give the money back, but failed to do so. There is no explanation from the funeral home in the consent order, which was filed early last month.

The home was also fined $20,000 by the board and can appeal the decision.

“Wished we had touched more”

Gamini Wickramatilake, a massage therapist from Herndon, went too far with a patient, the board of nursing ruled in September.

This gets a little graphic, so fair warning:

Wickramatilake was employed with Salon Cielo and Spa in Arlington. In February, according to the order, Wickramatilake placed his erect penis into a client’s hand on several occasions. He also moved this woman’s underwear, touched her inappropriately in the groin area and touched her butt and breasts.

Wickramatilake, according to the order, later told the client that “he was turned on” and that he “wished they had touched more.”

Without a license

Katrina Cross, a nurse aide in Virginia Beach, practiced medicine without a license for three months at Direct Home Health Care in Portsmouth. Her license was revoked by the board, according to the consent order.

Cross had a license that expired in Dec. ’04, but forged an expiration date of Dec. ’07 when she applied at Direct Home. Cross also wrote “CNA” after her name in conjunction with employment at Personal-Touch Home Care, also in Portsmith.

Marital counseling woes

Often we blog about doctors and nurses in this space.

But here is an interesting case about a social worker who voluntarily surrendered her license to the state.

According to the consent order, Susan Avery, a social worker in Virginia Beach, was providing marriage counseling in March of 2006 when the clients decided to end the martial therapy. One of clients (presumably the wife from the consent order’s language) then scheduled an individual session with Avery.

Avery told the woman’s husband that she had scheduled an appointment and did the same thing for the husband who also scheduled an individual therapy session (informing the wife.)

In addition to breaking this client confidentiality regulation, Avery also kept incomplete records for both clients.

According to the consent order, Avery gave her license up and is entering another line of work.