DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center has agreed to pay $4.5 million to resolve allegations that its violations of the Controlled Substances Act allowed hospital staff to divert fentanyl and other dangerous drugs from the hospital.
The civil settlement – which also includes an extensive corrective action plan – is the culmination of a three-year-long joint DEA and U.S. Attorney’s Office investigation of UTSW’s handling of controlled substances, which began in December 2018 after two UTSW nurses overdosed on fentanyl and died at UTSW’s Clements University Hospital. This marks the largest settlement involving allegations of drug diversion at a hospital in the state of Texas and the second largest in the nation.
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“For years prior to our investigation, U.T. Southwestern exhibited an almost shocking disregard for its obligations under the Controlled Substance Act, enabling some employees to steal and abuse prescription narcotics – including powerful synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. We felt that the serial compliance failures we uncovered warranted a multi-million-dollar penalty and a stringent corrective action plan,” said U.S. Attorney Chad Meacham. . “In this settlement agreement, we’re doing everything in our power to mitigate the threat of opioid diversion by outlining protocols above and beyond what’s required by law.”
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