Nurse was Accused of Morphine Theft
Karen Spearman, a 53-year-old agency nurse who was accused of stealing morphine from the county-owned Martha T. Berry Medical Care Facility, has had almost all the charges against her dropped. The one remaining charge is a misdemeanor that deals with driving on a suspended license.
According to court records the issue began when Spearman was wrapping up her nursing shift, which includes doing a complete count of all medicines used and unused on her cart with the nurse from the next shift. Jackie Solowski, the nurse with whom Spearman did the med count, told the court during her testimony, that three of the bottles of morphine had been tampered with.
The vials contained a liquid that was paler in color than morphine usually is, as if they had been diluted, and the the tops of the vials had needle marks in them. However, according to Spearman’s testimony, she had no idea how that had happened, and she hadn’t used any of the morphine from those vials.
Company policy states that when a nurse is under suspicion of using patient medication for herself, the nurse must undergo a drug test. However, Spearman is said to have broken away from those escorting her out of the building, running to her parked car. She allegedly then fled the area, hitting another hospital worker and the curb with her car. The worker was luckily unharmed.
Spearman was charged with larceny in a building, which under Michigan law is a felony punishable by up to four years in prison. She was also charged with two counts of adulterating/misbranding drugs or medicine, which is a two-year felony, and driving on a suspended license.
However, once the preliminary hearing began, and several people including Solowski provided testimony, it was discovered that the vials containing the suspected morphine had not yet been tested by the MSP crime lab. According to the prosecutor, the crime lab was unwilling to test the contents of the vials until they had an identical, unadulterated vial provided by the manufacturer for comparison purposes.
The manufacturer refused, on the grounds that they would not provide drugs to the police simply because they requested them. A court order was needed, and had not yet been granted. Spearman’s attorney told the court that the prosecution had been in such a hurry to bring charges that they hadn’t done their homework properly.
In light of this information, District Judge Carrie Fuca said that there was not enough evidence for the prosecution to pursue the case, and the charges should be dropped. The last remaining charge, the one for driving on a suspended license, is a misdemeanor that will be handled separately in the 41-B District Court.