Bayview nurse charged after morphine probe

A Bayview Nursing Home nurse who gave morphine instead of a prescribed muscle relaxant to a wheelchair-bound resident two years ago — and then tried to cover up the error — was indicted on felony charges last week, according to the state Attorney General’s office.

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced the unsealing of a felony indictment charging Vicki Price, 46, a licensed practical nurse, in connection with a morphine overdose of a patient at the Island Park rehabilitation center located at 1 Long Beach Road. If convicted, Price faces up to four years in prison.

“New York’s health care professionals take an oath to care for their patients — and that care is their first duty,” Schneiderman said. “Our most vulnerable patients deserve our care, and my office will pursue justice when our basic tenets of care are not met. There is one set of rules for all caregivers, and those rules must be enforced.”

Price was arraigned in Nassau County Court before Judge Anthony Paradiso on September 3. She pled not guilty and was released on her own recognizance. She is due back in court on October 16.

Edward Gallison, Price’s Mineola-based attorney, said Price couldn’t be convicted because she made a mistake.

“Under the statute of the law, they have to prove it was reckless,” he said. “We don’t agree that it was. It was an accident, nothing more, nothing less.”

Law enforcement officials say the overdose was caused by Price, who administered morphine instead of a prescribed muscle relaxant to a 46-year-old resident on February 16, 2012, and then attempted to cover up her mistake by allegedly falsifying documents. They say that Price did not admit to the mistake even after the resident, who suffers from spina bifida, lost consciousness and was admitted to Long Beach Medical Center, according to a press release from the attorney general’s office. The resident was released from the hospital five days later, after being treated with Narcan, a medication used to counter the effects of an opiate overdose, officials said.

Price, of Freeport, is charged with one count of endangering the welfare of a vulnerable elderly person, or an incompetent or physically disabled person, in the second degree, a class E felony; one count of endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person, a class A misdemeanor; one count of willful violation of the public health laws, an unclassified misdemeanor; and two counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, a class E felony. She faces up to 1 1/3 to 4 years in prison if convicted. She is no longer employed at the nursing home.

The case was investigated by Special Investigator Christopher Ward and Regional Chief Investigator Greg S. Muroff.

The case is being prosecuted by Special Assistant Attorney General Megan Gallagher, of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit’s Hauppauge Regional Office. Jane Zwirn-Turkin is regional director for the Regional Office. The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit is led by Acting Director Amy Held. The Division of Criminal Justice is led by Executive Deputy Attorney General Kelly Donovan.