MGH to Pay $2.3M to Resolve Drug Theft Allegations

In the largest settlement of its kind involving allegations of drug diversion at a hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has agreed to pay the United States $2.3 million to resolve allegations that lax controls enabled MGH employees to steal controlled substances for personal use. MGH has also agreed to implement a comprehensive corrective action plan to prevent, identify, and address future diversions.

“Under the law, hospitals like MGH have a special responsibility to ensure that controlled substances are used for patient care and are not diverted for non-medical uses,” said U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz. “Diversion of these drugs feeds addiction, contributes to potential illegal drug sales, and fuels the opioid epidemic that has had a devastating effect on the Commonwealth. We commend MGH for disclosing and addressing its diversion problems and for taking steps to ameliorate future diversion by hospital personnel.”

In 2013, an investigation was launched after MGH disclosed to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) that two of its nurses had stolen large volumes of prescription medications from the hospital, according to Ortiz’s office. Altogether, the two nurses stole nearly 16,000 pills, mostly oxycodone, an addictive painkiller. Both nurses stole from automated dispensing machines that MGH used to store and dispense prescription medications.

The DEA’s ensuing audit of MGH’s controlled substances revealed pill count discrepancies totaling over 20,000, missing or incomplete medication inventories, and hundreds of missing drug records, all in violation of the hospital’s responsibilities under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

MGH cooperated with the DEA’s investigation and subsequently disclosed additional violations of the CSA. Specifically, MGH disclosed that a pediatric nurse with a 12-year substance abuse problem had injected himself with Dilaudid at work; a physician had prescribed controlled substances for patients without seeing them and without maintaining medical records; several nurses were able to divert prescription drugs for many years without being detected; and medical staff had failed to properly secure controlled substances, even, on occasion, bringing them to lunch.

Since the investigation began, MGH has worked cooperatively with the DEA and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to develop a detailed corrective action plan to address the identified deficiencies in MGH’s handling of controlled substances.