Doctors, medical staff on drugs put patients at risk

Anita Bertrand doesn’t remember much about the first time she stole narcotics she was supposed to administer to surgical patients. She doesn’t remember exactly when she installed the intravenous port in her ankle so she could inject the drugs more efficiently. And she doesn’t remember how many patients she may have put at risk before getting into treatment. But she remembers how easy it was to get away with it. “I was absolutely impaired, using narcotics while working. &a...
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Drug addiction among nurses: Confronting a quiet epidemic

Your colleague on the night shift is a stellar nurse. Her background, experience, and demonstrated skills are top-notch. She is working extra shifts to help cover expenses while her husband is between jobs. While raising three young children, she also cares for her severely disabled father. You wonder how she does it all. This description fit Patricia Holloran, RN, whom friends and colleagues regarded as a “super nurse”—until hospital administration and the Connect...
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Alarm at Growing Addiction Problems Among Professionals

Experts are calling for urgent action to tackle the “significant challenge” of rising levels of alcoholism and substance abuse among professionals including doctors, dentists and lawyers. At the first international conference of its kind, in Ireland this weekend, there were calls for the UK government to help the silent mass of professionals who were “functioning alcoholics”. Rory O’Connor, the UK co-ordinator of health support programmes for dentists and veterinary...
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