Four months after a Kingsport nursing home fired one of its nurses, the former employee found himself behind bars. The Sullivan County Grand Jury indicted former LPN Andrew Griffith on charges of abuse, neglect, or exploitation of a dependent adult, obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, deceit or theft, and theft of property.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit arrested Griffith this week.
The former nurse worked at Wexford House Nursing Home for three years until April. The Kingsport nursing home, which has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to employees stealing patient meds, terminated Griffith after employees found pills missing during one of four daily medication cart audits.
"This one particular nurse did confess that he did take the medications," Wexford House Licensed Nursing Home Administrator Kathy Green said. "No patients had drugs taken from them. It was the wasted medications at the end of the shift that were unaccounted for."
According to Green, before Griffith slipped up, he was able to cover his tracks for a short period of time as he stole medicine. Those pills were prescribed to anywhere from two to five patients, Green said.
After reporting Griffith to police, it took the TBI four months to put together its case against the man. According to the TBI, the former employee violated his patients' trust.
"When you leave your loved one in the care of another person, you expect them to be responsible and to take good care of them," TBI Spokesperson Kristin Helm said. "Unfortunately, he was not doing that."
In July, after learning of Griffith's confession, the Tennessee Department of Health suspended the man's nursing license.
"It is a long, drawn-out process to get your license reinstated," Wexford House Director of Nursing Renee Parsons said.
According to Green, Griffith mentioned he became dependent on controlled substances after a tooth-ache and some dental work this past spring. Still, she says that's no excuse for his actions.
"This individual did know all of the policies and procedures of our facility and did know that we have a (zero-tolerance) drug diversion policy," Green said. "He did do this knowing what the consequences of his actions would be."
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