Police say a Cleveland Clinic Tradition Hospital nurse was seen withdrawing fluid from a patient’s fentanyl infusion bag. The investigation remains ongoing.
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. —
A nurse at Cleveland Clinic Tradition Hospital in Port St. Lucie is under investigation after allegedly stealing fentanyl from a critically ill patient’s IV bag on June 24 and 25, according to police.
“They did an internal investigation where the Department of Health was then notified, in turn notifying PSLPD where we started our investigation in early August,” said Officer Brittany McNally, public information officer for the Port St. Lucie Police Department.
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Police say Leslie Pope, a Cleveland Clinic Tradition Hospital nurse, was seen withdrawing fluid from a patient’s fentanyl infusion bag. The investigation remains ongoing.
Police said a family member of the patient reported seeing 54-year-old Leslie Pope use a syringe to withdraw fluid from the patient’s fentanyl infusion, place the syringe in her pocket, and leave the room.
“That’s not standard procedure, from what I understand at the hospital,” McNally said. “But again, she’s not even assigned that patient. And there was no initial justification for her to even be in that room at the time.”
Investigators said Pope returned the following evening and approached the IV equipment again, but the family member intervened and stopped her.
Hospital video reportedly showed Pope manipulating protective caps on the IV equipment, but investigators said she did not remove any fluid during the second incident.
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“The patient was on a specific monitor for the situation that he was in the ICU. And this individual had this monitor that had video recordings, which was a key piece of evidence in this case and completely contradicted what her recollection was,” McNally said.
Police said Pope denied the allegations and did not admit to using the fentanyl for personal consumption.
“From my understanding, she did not admit that she was using it for personal consumption and essentially denied all the allegations that were made, but there was an overwhelming amount of evidence to prove otherwise,” McNally said.
Cleveland Clinic released a statement regarding the arrest, saying, “We take these allegations very seriously. The individual no longer works with us, and we are fully cooperating with law enforcement. Because this is an active investigation, we are unable to comment further at this time.”
The investigation remains ongoing.