By Mark E. Vogler
mvogler@eagletribune.com
November 20, 2008 12:18 am A former registered nurse, who admitted to tampering with patients' pain relief drugs at Lawrence General Hospital to satisfy her own addiction, was sentenced yesterday to 41âÑ2 years in federal prison. Deborah Stella, 40, of Millbury, formerly of Lawrence, pleaded guilty earlier this year to three counts of tampering with consumer products, three counts of obtaining controlled substances through subterfuge and deception, and two counts of making false statements to police. Had prosecutors gone to trial, they said the evidence would have proven that Stella diluted drugs used for pain relief and replaced them with ones containing saline solution and left those in a locked storage room. "Stella did not simply steal drugs from LGH," Assistant U.S. Attorney James Arnold said in his sentencing memorandum filed in U.S. District Court in Boston this week. "Instead, on numerous occasions, Stella tampered with the drugs in such a way that patients recovering from surgery were at risk of getting diluted pain medications or no pain medication at all," Arnold wrote. "Through her drug tampering activities, Stella risked the health and safety of these patients by increasing the likelihood that they would get insufficient pain relief. And, in at least one instance, Stella's conduct in tampering with controlled substances had a direct impact on patient safety and caused a patient to suffer extreme pain," the prosecutor said. U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan yesterday commended Lawrence General Hospital officials for their cooperation with investigators and for bringing the case to light by initially notifying the state Department of Public Health. "Certainly we did everything we could," hospital spokeswoman Barbara Keller said yesterday. "We also obviously reviewed our own protocols — safety protocols — to make sure that nothing like this would happen again," Keller said. Hospital officials warned Stella in mid-October 2006 that continuation of the drug tampering would result in criminal prosecution and potential jail time. "Rather than taking advantage of an LGH offer to seek substance abuse assistance that would have potentially resulted in the matter being handled internally, Stella instead complained to LGH's Human Resources Department that she was unfairly being singled out because of a previous medical condition," prosecutor Arnold said. She blamed her crime on her medical problems, particularly a work-related injury she suffered at the hospital several years ago while picking up a patient who fell out of bed. A herniated disk led to two back surgeries and her drug dependency. Boston attorney Syrie Fried urged that Stella's sentence be limited to the time she has already served. He requested that she instead serve three years of supervised release — with the first year to be served in home confinement. "Ms. Stella had made remarkable progress in overcoming her drug addiction and the emotional problems that made her more susceptible to drug abuse, Fried said in a sentencing memorandum filed in federal District Court in Boston.
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