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Nurse who stole opioids wins her job back because addiction is a disease, arbitrator

Zaibetter

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Mar 27, 2016
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More politically correct bullshit. Let her work in the kitchen of the hospital or some administrative job.

Early on a summer morning in 2016, a nurse at a Waterloo, Ont., long-term care facility noticed a light on in the bathroom she intended to use.

She waited, knocked a couple of times, then opened the door, where she saw another nurse sitting on the toilet with an ampoule of the painkiller Hydromorphone sideways in her mouth, as if she had just injected herself.
This was among the earliest pieces of proof that the nurse, identified in legal records only as DS, had for two years been stealing opioids for her own use and falsifying medical records in order to conceal the thefts.

Now, in a decision that has ignited debate over whether addiction truly is a medical disease, a labour arbitrator has ordered the Regional Municipality of Waterloo to give DS her job back, and to compensate her financially for her unfair dismissal, including general damages for “injury to dignity, feelings and self-respect.”
The care home had a duty to accommodate the nurse’s unquestioned diagnosis of severe opioid use disorder and mild to moderate sedative-hypnotic use disorder, ruled arbitrator Larry Steinberg. This disease had left her with “a complete inability or a diminished capacity” to resist the urge to feed her addiction.

She would, for example, file paperwork falsely showing a resident had requested a narcotic, then falsify charts to show they had received it, when in fact she used it herself. She would also keep the unused portion of narcotics, rather than discarding them.
Confronted by management, the nurse, a 50-year-old mother of three, initially denied but later admitted her actions, which she said were related to abuse of painkillers that began when she was treated for a kidney condition. She had become heavily addicted, appeared physically ill, and was isolating herself from her family. About a month later, Sunnyside fired her for gross misconduct and theft.

At her hearing, DS testified she has not used narcotics since this time in late summer 2016, when she entered a residential rehab.
Her nursing licence was suspended for about nine months, and reinstated with a series of conditions including that she have no access to controlled substances and be supervised at all times.
Lawyers for the care home argued that letting her return to work with these conditions would impose “undue hardship” on the care home. Every nurse has access to narcotics, for example, and some patients are in advanced dementia, so they would not notice if a nurse removed their fentanyl patches. Furthermore, nurses need to work independently, not be supervised constantly.

The care home also argued that she was not fired because of her addiction, and that it played no role in the decision. She was fired for theft and record falsification, abuse of residents and breach of trust, it claimed. But the arbitrator did not buy it. The nurse’s actions were symptoms of the disease of addiction, and it is discriminatory to fire someone because of their disease.
An expert hired by the region, Lawrie Reznek, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto, testified that addiction is not a disease but more like a bad habit, although he “acknowledged that this was a minority view in the psychiatric profession and that it was contrary, for example, to the DSM-5,” the manual of psychiatry.

His view was rejected by the arbitrator in favour of the views of two other experts who testified addiction is seen as a health condition, and that “to view (addictions) as bad habits stigmatizes these conditions and makes it harder for people to get help,” Steinberg wrote.
But Reznek is not alone in his view. For example, Marc Lewis, a Canadian neuroscientist and recovered addict who studies the development of addiction, has argued that addiction is not a disease, but rather a “developmental cascade,” like a form of learning. In his book The Biology of Desire, he argues against the fatalistic view that addiction is some intrinsic part of a person’s nature, or a biological disturbance or natural flaw. Rather, addiction is a result of “the motivated repetition of the same thoughts and behaviours until they become habitual.”

In that sense, he argues addiction is more similar to racism than to cancer, and more like violence or domestic abuse than cystic fibrosis or diabetes. As comforting as it may be to think of addiction as a disease, it is simply a “very bad habit.”
The disease model is well-founded in both science and clinical practice, however. It is more than just a sympathetic metaphor that reflects a desire to help rather than judge.
Population-level studies have shown a clear genetic basis. Addiction has obvious environmental, epidemiological and social factors. It can alter the structure and function of the body and brain. It can respond to systematic, biological, medical treatments, just like cancer or the flu. It certainly has terrible symptoms and can often be fatal.

The view that it is a disease is well established in Canadian society. When the government of Canada argued in court against a supervised injection site in Vancouver, for example, it conceded the point that addiction is a true disease. And when the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the case, it concluded that “the ability to make some choices (about drug use) does not negate the trial judge’s findings that addiction is a disease in which the central feature is impaired control over the use of the addictive substance.”

But courts do not always follow this lead.
In his coverage of this and other similar cases, Waterloo Region Record reporter Gordon Paul identified a diversity of outcomes for nurses who steal opioids to feed their own addictions.
One stole painkillers from an elderly terminal cancer patient, was convicted of theft, suspended as a nurse for five months, and eventually resigned after the College said she shamed the profession. Another who stole medicine from a dying teenager was stripped of her nursing licence and spent 18 months in jail for theft, drug charges, breach of trust and impaired driving. Another was sentenced to two years in prison.

In the current case of DS, there was some uncertainty at the hearing over whether she “shorted” patients, or gave them less than required in order to save some for herself, but the adjudicator did not resolve this question, as it was not relevant to the issues he had to decide.

https://nationalpost.com/news/nurse...cause-addiction-is-a-disease-arbitrator-rules
 

Mr Deeds

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Mar 10, 2013
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People with addictions have a disease and thats the way society should deal with it. Everyone makes mistakes and deserves a second chance.
 

Zaibetter

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Mar 27, 2016
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People with addictions have a disease and that's the way society should deal with it. Everyone makes mistakes and deserves a second chance.
That's why she can go work as a receptionist in the hospital, putting her back in around a nurse station that has meds is like sending an alcoholic to work at the liquor store. Sounds like someone close to you has the disease?
 
O

OnTheWayOut

Let's hope this judge is under the nurse addict''s care one day .............. always a great idea to have people make life and death decisions while high as a kite.
 

trm

Well-known member
Apr 8, 2009
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Putting an addict in a job where she will have access to narcotics could ruin her.
 

canada-man

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Jun 16, 2007
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Toronto, Ontario
canadianmale.wordpress.com
People with addictions have a disease and thats the way society should deal with it. Everyone makes mistakes and deserves a second chance.
addiction is not a disease. today there are information readily available on the dangers of these chemicals
 

deezed

Corvette Cowboy
Dec 18, 2014
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People with addictions have a disease and thats the way society should deal with it. Everyone makes mistakes and deserves a second chance.
I believe she should have a second chance at McDonald's or Tim Horton's (more liberal left wing garbage )
 

bazokajoe

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Nov 6, 2010
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Personally I don't believe in addictions. You make the choice to smoke,drink,do pot,coke or whatever you drug of choice.
 

deezed

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Dec 18, 2014
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By the logic of the labour arbitrator , Marco Musso should get his license back and damages if he could/would have convinced the judge he was an addict to his drug of choice alcohol why not?

Instead of going on I think I should just book a 1 hr appointment :phone:
 

Mr Deeds

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I believe she should have a second chance at McDonald's or Tim Horton's (more liberal left wing garbage )
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Geez how incredibly open minded of you maybe we should put them all in jail that way when they come out they can start all over again doing the same thing.
This woman is educated, well trained, and can be of value to society if given a chance. You and others like you with this closed minded attitude are what is costing society 10s of millions of dollars. Ill bet you voted for Ford as well
 

Mr Bret

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Aug 13, 2012
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So if I steal money to support my lobbying addiction, I should be let off the hook?

Hobbying, not effin' lobbying.
 
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canada-man

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Geez how incredibly open minded of you maybe we should put them all in jail that way when they come out they can start all over again doing the same thing.
This woman is educated, well trained, and can be of value to society if given a chance. You and others like you with this closed minded attitude are what is costing society 10s of millions of dollars. Ill bet you voted for Ford as well
There is no excuse to inject opioids.
 

GameBoy27

Well-known member
Nov 23, 2004
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People with addictions have a disease and thats the way society should deal with it. Everyone makes mistakes and deserves a second chance.
A second chance, sure. But there's no way she should be employed with the responsibility of giving patients medication. For two years she'd been stealing opioids for her own use and falsifying medical records in order to conceal the thefts.

In other words, she stole medications and failed to administer it to her patients. That's serious neglect in my books and therefore she doesn't deserve a second chance in the same field.


Personally I don't believe in addictions. You make the choice to smoke,drink,do pot,coke or whatever you drug of choice.
Actually, if you do a research into opiates, you'd know many become addicted because they were originally prescribed for pain relief. The problem occurs when you no longer "need" the medication for pain, but due to their highly "addictive" nature, continue to take them. Once your prescription runs out, you look for them on the street. It can quickly go downhill from there.

People just don't one day wake up and say, "hey, I'm going to stick a needle in my arm." Read some stories of how people became addicted to opiates. You will quickly see a common thread.

You may not believe in addictions, but they exist. It's not simply a matter of choice.
 

rhuarc29

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Apr 15, 2009
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People with addictions have a disease and thats the way society should deal with it. Everyone makes mistakes and deserves a second chance.
She was falsifying medical records. That's incredibly dangerous. Plus, addiction makes it so she's likely to re-offend. If this is ruled a wrongful dismissal, the hospital literally had no "right" action to take. Either they turf her or they put their patients at risk.
 

Mr Deeds

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She was falsifying medical records. That's incredibly dangerous. Plus, addiction makes it so she's likely to re-offend. If this is ruled a wrongful dismissal, the hospital literally had no "right" action to take. Either they turf her or they put their patients at risk.
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Ok, obviously some of you guys don't have a clue of what you talking about. Im a recovering addict and have been clean now for 12 years. I also volunteer placing recovering addicts in jobs, some have gone on to being quite successful and hold jobs with alot of responsibility, out of the almost 100 people I have placed only 2 have relapsed, and they were not educated professionals but what we call low bottem which means they've been on the streets for years and didn't know any other life, a well educated professional with higher expectations has almost 100% success rate if treated properly especially if their female.
 

kkelso

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Apr 27, 2003
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People just don't one day wake up and say, "hey, I'm going to stick a needle in my arm." Read some stories of how people became addicted to opiates. You will quickly see a common thread.
Yes, the common thread I see is low self discipline. That's a character flaw not a disease.

KK
 
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