NEWS RELEASE
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
WESTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
Julia C. Dudley United States Attorney Brian McGinn Public Affairs Specialist |
BB&T Building 310 1st Street, S.W., Room 906 Roanoke, Virginia 24011 (540) 857-2974 FAX (540) 857-2179 |
June 11, 2009
FORMER NURSE ANESTHETIST PLEADS GUILTY TO DIVERTING PAIN MEDS
Alvin Parkes Worked at Pulaski Community Hospital and Carilion New River Valley Hospital
United States Attorney Julia C. Dudley announced today that Alvin Earl Parkes, age 62, of Draper, Virginia, entered a guilty plea in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Roanoke today to a two-count information charging him with obtaining a controlled substance by misrepresentation.
By pleading to the information, Parkes waived his right to indictment. That information charged the defendant with two counts of obtaining a controlled substance, specifically fentanyl, by means of misrepresentation, fraud, forgery deception of subterfuge. Parkes faces a maximum possible sentence of eight years incarceration and/or a fine of up to $500,000.
“We put a tremendous amount of trust in our healthcare providers. We rely on them to diagnose use, care for ourselves and our family and in the worst of times, make us pain free when there is little left that can be done,” United States Attorney Julia C. Dudley said today. “Mr. Parkes took advantage of that trust and denied ailing patients the pain medication they needed to rest comfortably. This type of behavior is beyond distrustful, it is criminal.”
According to the information, Parkes was a certified nurse anesthetist. He was previously employed at Pulaski Community Hospital and Carilion New River Valley Medical Center.
Like all nurse anesthetists, Parkes had a drug cart used to transport their schedule II and IV drugs. This cart was replenished, with the nurse’s signature, at the hospital’s pharmacy.
In order to obtain fentanyl, Parkes would report to the pharmacy that his cart needed to be replenished because he dropped and damaged boxes of the drugs. Each box contained ten, 100 mcq ampules of fentanyl. The defendant made this claim at least four times in a three-month time frame.
Parkes also diverted fentanyl directly from patients. When pregnant women requested an epidural the defendant would request 200 mcq of fentanyl for the patient, but would only administer 100 mcq of the drug to the patient in the epidural pump. He would divert 100 mcq of fentanyl for his personal use.
On other occasions Parkes would administer 50, 60 or 75 mcq of fentanyl to surgical patients that had a recommended dosage of 100 mcq of the drug. He would obtain the remainder of the drug for his personal use.
Parkes admitted today that he would empty syringes of fentanyl and refill them with sterile water. That sterile water, instead of pain medication, was then administered to endoscopic procedure patients that underwent such procedures as a colonoscopy.
After obtaining the drugs, Parkes would self administer fentanyl into his forearm through a syringe while sitting in a hospital bathroom. The defendant began self administering 1cc of fentanyl a day but eventually took as many as 8 ccs of the drug each day. On October 17, 2009 Parkes surrendered his nursing license.
The investigation of the case was conducted by the Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations. Assistant United States Attorney Charlene R. Day is prosecuting the case for the United States.