Fertility nurse steals drugs: Patients undergo egg retrieval without anesthesia
Erslia Pompilio, a friend of mine, of roguenursemedia.com and podcast host of the nurses and hypochondriacs recommended I listen to the podcast called The Retrievals. The Retrievals is about Donna Monticone, a nurse at Yale Fertility Center who was stealing fentanyl over a period of several months.
Meanwhile, over 200 patients were taken for egg retrievals for their in vitro fertilization procedures without anesthesia or with a substantially reduced amount of fentanyl since Ms. Monticone was stealing the fentanyl and replacing it with saline.
As an advocate for nurses, I don’t necessarily see the impact on others. This podcast was from the standpoint of the patients who underwent this egg retrieval procedure without anesthesia and were writhing in pain. The podcast was a wakeup call to consider the impact of the nurses’ actions.
I certainly can personally relate as I had undergone in vitro fertilization to achieve pregnancy for both of my sons. I specifically remember in one of my retrievals that I was showing signs of discomfort, so they gave me more Versed.
The procedure was extremely uncomfortable, and I cannot imagine going through it without any anesthesia. What concerns me is that with numerous patients complaining that they remember their entire procedure and were writhing in pain that Yale did not investigate and figure out why all these patients suddenly were having pain.
This is another system issue. There is no reason for such a delay in realizing that patients were not actually getting the fentanyl. I understand that Ms. Monticone would take the vials home and replace the fentanyl with saline. It wasn’t until a cap came off easily that anyone questioned something being wrong. What kind of system would allow any narcotics to be taken from the facility?
There was malpractice on the part of Yale for not investigating the earlier patient complaints and by giving patients saline rather than fentanyl.
My heart truly goes out to these patients who were harmed by the criminal act of this nurse. I do believe such acts are part of a disease. While I do believe substance abuse is a disease, it is the nurses responsibility to get help.
Ms. Monticone did acknowledge her actions and pled guilty in the criminal matter to which she was sentenced.
Interestingly, she herself went through in vitro fertilization and was successful having children of her own. Donna’s attorney argues that her children would not be safe with her ex-husband as they had ongoing custody issues. The women who did not received adequate sedation for their egg retrieval only wanted to have children.
The sentencing judge did take this information into account and sentenced Ms. Monticone to imprisonment only on weekends. All I can say is that she must have had a great attorney to get that kind of sentence. But I also can imagine how the victims in the hospital felt when they learned of Ms. Monticone’s surprising sentence.
The Department of Justice also fined Yale $308,000 to resolve allegations of violations of the Controlled Substances Act.
Along with that sentence. I also found it interesting that the Nursing Board placed her license on suspension for 6 months after which she is eligible to get her license back on a probation after that time period. Therefore, this nurse will be able to work again despite causing physical harm to over 200 people by having them undergo fertility and egg retrieval services without anesthesia!
Yes, I have mixed feelings about this because I am such an advocate for nurses and believe nurses deserve second chances because, after all, they do make mistakes. It is what they do about those mistakes that makes the difference.
Yet, when over 200 people are injured, that does cause me some concern. Would love to hear your thoughts on this matter. Tell me your thoughts below.
