Nursing Home Patient Dies of Morphine Overdose Despite No Order For the Drug
The family of an 84-year-old nursing home resident was stunned to learn the cause of their father's death - an overdose of morphine. They were doubly stunned when then also learned that there was no order by a physician prescribing the drug.
The case is the focus of a criminal prosecution of the nursing home's director of nursing, Penny Whitlock, who faces charges of criminal elder neglect for allowing an employee at Woodstock Residence Nursing Home to overmedicate nursing home patients with morphine. According to reports, it was common knowledge that Whitlock was administering morphine without a doctor's consent, and was even warned by other employees about the risks, but continued the practice, which is suspected to have contributed to several other deaths.
Whitlock faces three years in prison.
Source: Chicago Sun Times
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