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.