06:16 PM MDT on Friday, April 8, 2005

Andrea Dearden
Idaho's NewsChannel 7

BOISE -- A nurse accused of stealing patient's pain medication from surgery patients at St. Luke’s Hospital will be tried on the charges next week.

KTVB

This is a case of pain medication allegedly being stolen from the hospital and replaced with saline, salt water.

Thirty-eight-year-old Nanette Hiller, a former nurse at St. Luke’s, is charged with three felonies -- adulteration of a controlled substance, administering that adulterated controlled substance, and burglary.

Court records show Hiller is accused of removing Fentanyl, a controlled substance used to relieve pain, from vials and replacing it with saline. The nurse allegedly gave that diluted medication to a surgery patient.

Hiller is also accused of stealing vials of Fentanyl from the hospital. Records show this happened in July of 2003.

A spokesperson for St. Luke’s confirms Hiller was employed at the facility, but has been terminated. No other information was available.

The nurse is scheduled to be tried on these charges beginning next week in Ada County court.

Hiller is the second nurse to be charged with this crime.

In April 2004, 47-year-old Rebecca Shaw pleaded guilty to a felony charge of adulteration of a controlled substance.

Prosecutors allege, she too, stole Fentanyl and Demerol, another controlled substance, replacing the pain medication with saline. Both were to be given to patients undergoing procedures at St. Luke’s.

Shaw was sentenced to ten years in prison, but that was suspended and she was ordered to ten years of supervised probation.

NewsChannel 7 spoke with St. Luke’s spokeswoman Beth Toal about this case. She says there is no information available about Shaw or her employment at the hospital.

A supervisor who may know more about the situation was unavailable for comment.