Mercy I.C. nurse accused of stealing medication

A former nurse at Mercy Iowa City faces 18 criminal charges after investigators say she repeatedly took narcotics from as many as 15 hospital patients and charged them a total of $1,179.35, according to a stack of criminal complaints.

Rose Marie Hayslett, 58, of Cedar Rapids, is accused of removing narcotics from the Iowa City hospital's “Pyxis” drug dispensing machine under various patient names and using the medication herself, according to the complaint.

Hayslett is accused of failing to document the drugs she took, “causing the patient and hospital records to be inaccurate,” the complaint states.

“The lack of documentation was done to conceal that the defendant was taking narcotics for her own use,” according to police.

Hayslett is accused of taking drugs under 15 different patient names and billing them for the medication -- $30.25 per unit. A totally of 39 units were charged to patients but not received, according to police.

A stack of 18 criminal complaints against Hayslett goes on to catalog individual patients she is accused of using in her alleged theft of narcotics like Morphine and Hydromorphone between September 2009 and January 2010.

One complaint states that Hayslett, between Sept. 30, 2009, and Oct. 1, 2009, was assigned to care for a patient and administer Hydromorphone to her. On five separate occasions during those dates, Hayslett is accused of withdrawing medication from the dispensing machine and not documenting what she took, according to the complaint.

“The defendant admitted to police during an interview that she would abuse the medication when she could get away with it,” according to that complaint.

Her nurse colleagues told police they observed “behavior by the defendant during her shifts that would indicate that she was under the influence of a narcotic,” according to the report.

Additional complaints describe similar alleged abuses in 2009 including ones on Oct. 10, Oct. 16, Oct. 17 to Oct. 19, Oct. 25, Oct. 31 to Nov. 2, Nov. 2 to Nov. 9, Nov. 14, Nov. 15, Nov. 22, Nov. 27 and on Jan. 1, 2010.

One complaint states that Hayslett, between Oct. 10 and Oct. 18 withdrew medication on nine separate occasions without documenting the use

According to Gazette archives and public records, a woman with the same name and same year of birth was the acting director of the Iowa City Veterans Affairs Medical Center in 2001.

Hayslett also was quoted in The Gazette in 2000 as being acting director and in 1998 as being acting chief of patient care at the VA Medical Center.

Hayslett, according to court records, filed for bankruptcy in 2007 with $343,282 in debts and $288,012 in assets. In her court filings, Hayslett lists the VA Medical Center in Iowa City as a source of income in 2004 and 2005 and VA disability pension and Social Security disability as a source of income in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

She lists gambling as a source of income in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

Among her losses, according to the court documents, Hayslett lists more than $101,000 in gambling losses.

The VA Medical Center on Wednesday would not confirm that Hayslett was the previous acting director of the hospital. A staff member said the VA has 20 days to respond to The Gazette's open records request.

A spokeswoman for Mercy Iowa City declined to comment when asked Wednesday whether the alleged theft harmed any patients or left them without medication. The hospital official also would not comment on whether Mercy has or will review its procedures and policies around how nurses can access medications and how medication records are kept.

The hospital spokeswoman would not say when Hayslett was hired and when she was terminated.

Last year, a North Liberty man, who also worked at Mercy Iowa City in 2009, was charged with similar offenses after police say he obtained prescription painkillers intended for patients and used them for himself.

Adam John Moander, 28, of North Liberty, is accused of removing Dilaudid from an electronic dispensing machine under the names of 12 patients who had been admitted to Mercy Iowa City for surgery in July and August of 2009.

In one case, when Moander was confronted by a patient's nurse, he said he inadvertently programmed the wrong patient into the dispensing machine, police reported.

Moander's case is set for trial in Johnson County District Court on June 12.

Hayslett faces charges of second-degree theft, a felony, and tampering with records, dependent adult abuse and 15 counts of prohibited acts involving prescription drugs, according to the criminal complaints.

Hayslett left the Johnson County Jail after posting a $15,000 cash-only bond Wednesday afternoon. She could not be reached for comment Wednesday.