BUFFALO, N.Y. — A former nurse at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center pleaded guilty to tampering with medications intended for patients.
Kelsey A. Mulvey, 28, of Grand Island made the plea Wednesday in U.S. District Court. She faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The office of U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy said that between July 21, 2016, and July 13, 2018, Mulvey tampered with medications from dispensing machines around Roswell Park.
The substances are supposed to be for patients, but the office says Mulvey had her own addiction. Those substances would not reach the patients who needed it.
"This case highlights the self-destructive power of addiction, and the lengths to which those struggling with substance use disorder will go,” Kennedy said in a statement.
"This defendant took medications intended to treat cancer patients to feed her own addiction, hurting those who were seriously ill or dying. This case illustrates just how widespread and devastating the damage caused by a one person’s addiction can be."
Kennedy's office said Mulvey would start a transaction, quickly cancel it, then leave the medication drawer open. She would "open the vial and remove the hydromorphone, replace it with water, and place the vial back into the machine so the total count of vials would not trigger scrutiny," federal prosecutors said in a statement.
"Kelsey Mulvey's plea today to tampering with powerful narcotics intended to ease the suffering of cancer patients here in Buffalo painfully resonates with the thousands of families who have personally faced the challenges and torment that comes with the crippling affliction of cancer," FBI Buffalo Field Office Special-Agent-in-Charge Stephen Belongia said in a statement.
"Although the pain of addiction takes its own toll on those who suffer from it, it cannot and does not excuse medical professionals who intentionally compromise the health and comfort of cancer patients who deserve to receive safe and unadulterated medication meant to ease their pain."
Mulvey will be scheduled at a later date.