ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) — A nurse is charged with siphoning pain medication from intravenous bags at a Minnesota hospital and replacing it with saline solution.
A federal complaint charges Blake Daniel Zenner with fraudulently obtaining hydromorphone hydrochloride from November 2010 to March 2011.
Attorney Paul Engh says Zenner is accused of causing infections in patients from whose IV bags he siphoned the painkiller at St. Cloud Hospital. The complaint does not name the facility. Engh says his clients did not cause the infections.
Hospital officials said in March 2011 that a nurse whom they didn't identify had introduced bacterial infections into 23 patients by stealing their IV pain medication.
The St. Cloud Times (http://tinyurl.com/cp65hh7 ) says the infected patients were successfully treated with antibiotics.
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Information from: St. Cloud Times, http://www.sctimes.com
