Nurse charged with stealing pain medication

Nurse charged with stealing pain medication from Minn. VA hospital

Star Tribune

Andy Mannix

September 22, 2017

A nurse at Minnesota’s Veterans Affairs Medical Center has been charged with regularly stealing pain medications over a six-month period from the hospital last year.

Matthew Leininger, 42, who was fired from the hospital in March, stole drugs such as fentanyl, morphine and oxycodone on more than 70 occasions, according to a criminal complaint filed this week. He told investigators he needed the drugs to cope with mental health issues, according to prosecutors. He faces five counts of felony theft by swindle.

According to a criminal complaint, the medical center uses a machine called Pyxis to dispense drugs to doctors and nurses. Leininger was required to log in with his user identification and provide his fingerprint to obtain the drugs, then enter into a machine which patient will receive the drug and record the dose to be administered. Then the nurse is expected to log in how much was given to the patient or the amount that was wasted.

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