Nurse Admits To Diluting Morphine At Danvers Nursing Home

DANVERS, MA —A Haverhill woman who worked as a nurse at Hunt Nursing and Rehab in Danvers pleaded guilty to federal drug charges Monday.

Brianna Duffy, 32, of Haverhill, pleaded guilty to tampering with a consumer product and acquiring a controlled substance by fraud or deception. She is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 14. Duffy faces up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.

According to a July2019 indictment, Duffy tampered with morphine sulfate prescribed to an 89-year-old hospice patient at Hunt Nursing and Rehab in Danvers on March 17 and 18, 2019, then tried to cover the theft by replacing the morphine with another drug, diluting it by 26 percent from the prescribed amount.

The indictment also accuses Duffy of taking morphine from two bottles that were prescribed to a 68-year old patient between December 2016 until July 2017 while working as a registered nurse at Maplewood Care and Rehabilitation Center in Amesbury. Duffy tested positive for morphine on July 18, 2017.