A Melbourne nurse has had her registration cancelled after being found to have stolen liquid morphine intended for cancer patients and replacing it with water. Shanelle Scriven's conduct was described as "appalling" and "brazen" by a tribunal.
Scriven, who began her nursing career in 2004, was found by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) to have engaged in professional misconduct. This included the misappropriation of medication, tampering with morphine, and misleading the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA).
The NMBA referred the matter to VCAT in July 2023, following a six-year investigation. Notifications alleging Scriven had been misappropriating medications were received between October 2016 and March 2017.
During her tenure at the Royal Children's Hospital between April and August 2016, Scriven was prohibited from entering medication rooms due to earlier allegations of medication misappropriation in 2014. Despite this restriction, she accessed the rooms on 98 occasions during her less than six-month period there, primarily to self-administer diazepam, according to the tribunal's decision.
After leaving the Royal Children's Hospital, Scriven moved to the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in September 2016, remaining until March 2017. It was during this period that she was found to have substituted liquid morphine she had taken for herself with water on five separate occasions. The tribunal noted this action presented a significant risk to patients, potentially affecting their comfort and overall health.
When initially contacted by the NMBA in 2016, Scriven denied the allegations, claiming her visits to the medication room were for other staff or to speak with colleagues. She also denied having a drug dependency or any health condition related to medication theft.
In March 2017, the NMBA suspended Scriven's registration and directed her to undergo a health assessment. A June 2018 psychiatric evaluation revealed that Scriven had been using benzodiazepines and opioids, including morphine, almost daily in 2016 and 2017, sourcing much of it from her workplaces.
The tribunal highlighted the persistent nature of Scriven's conduct, spanning nearly eleven months, as "brazen behaviour." The repeated actions were not seen as opportunistic but as "considered, deliberate and intentional." The tribunal also stated that Scriven's actions put colleagues at risk by increasing scrutiny on drug handling and damaging the reputation of the nursing profession. Furthermore, her misleading of the NMBA demonstrated a "complete disregard" for the regulator's role.
While the tribunal acknowledged Scriven's later admissions, her insight into her misconduct, and her undertaken rehabilitation and treatment, it found her conduct "so inconsistent with her being a fit and proper person to hold registration" that cancellation was necessary. Although there was no direct evidence of patient harm, the risk of serious harm was significant.
In addition to reprimanding Scriven and cancelling her registration, the tribunal disqualified her from applying for registration for one year. By the time of the hearing, Scriven had already been suspended from nursing for eight and a half years.