Nurse admits to diverting Hydrodocone from St. Thomas for nearly a year; Fentanyl & Dilaudid missing.

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The Board of Nursing released a consent order from this month’s Disciplinary Action Report which revealed a St. Thomas Nurse, Molly Snapp, admitted to diverting drugs for nearly a year. The report also details giving a patient blood pressure pills instead of pain pills, and missing Fentanyl & Dilaudid.

According to the Tennessee Department of Health, Molly Joanna Snapp worked at both St. Thomas Midtown and St. Thomas West from February of 2017 until January 2019. The Board of Nursing became aware of an issue with Snapp after she was on St. Thomas’ ‘High Activity Narcotic Audit’ for 3 consecutive months, which details the dispensing, administration, and wasting of narcotics.

Board of Nursing Disciplinary Action Report
Board of Nursing Disciplinary Action Report

The activities that landed her on the internal report were documenting the administration of narcotics to patients not assigned to her, failing to reconcile her medication by end of a shift, and administering narcotics to patients who were not assigned to her, and had not complained of pain to their assigned nurse. Additionally, the hospital administration noted she frequently requested other nurses document her wasting of narcotics without actually witnessing the wasting, and frequently left her work area for unknown reasons during her shift. Here’s s few of the details incidents:

  • Snapp documented administering Dilaudid to a patient more frequently than ordered by the physician.
  • Snapp withdrew 100mcg of Fentanyl at 19:48 hours for patient J.W., and also at 19:48 hours of the same day documented wasting 50 mcg of Fentanyl. In addition, the remaining 50 mcg was never documented as administered or wasted.
  • Snapp pulled PCA (pain pump) keys for a patient not assigned to her, and claims she “flushed the tubing” containing Dilaudid into the patient’s trashcan to “remove air from the line”.
  • Snapp removed 3 Zaroxolyn (BP/fluid pills) but only documented withdrawing 1. Later that day, patient J.D. complained that she did not receive her Oxycodone to a supervising nurse, and showed that she had been given Zaroxoln pills by Snapp, and told they were still Oxycodone, who explained the difference in appearance by telling her “the pharmacy changed manufacturers”.
Molly Snap (Courtesy FB: mollycastro78)

In January of this year, St. Thomas administration met with Molly Joanna Snapp to discuss all of these issues and the result of the audit and requested she submit to a urinary drug screen (UDS). At that time she reportedly immediately stood up, exclaimed “I need just a minute”, and abruptly exited the room, and left the hospital. The following week she emailed the hospital and admitted to “using alcohol to numb my pain” but didn’t address any of the audit issues. She completed an initial assessment for the TnPAP (Professional Assistance Program), but only days later informed them she was unable to complete the program, citing personal reasons.

On May 20th, she met with a Department of Health investigator, and admitted to lying about her abuse of alcohol, and diverting hydrocodone pills from St. Thomas hospitals for almost a year. The Board of Nursing found her guilty of refusing to submit to a drug test, unprofessional conduct, unfit for work and addicted to the degree it interferes with nursing duties. The board also notes she failed to maintain proper records, made false statements, removed drugs without authorization, and engaged in acts of dishonesty.

The Board of Nursing suspended the license of Molly Snapp but will stay the suspension if Snapp agrees to enter into the TnPAP program and adhere to any recommendations they make for monitoring/treatment. No criminal charges have been filed.

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