Atalie Mitchell Loses State Nursing License for Stealing Drugs from Patients, Using Post-Rehab


The state's nursing board has revoked the license of a Mission Viejo woman who admitted stealing pain medications from Hoag Hospital patients. Atalie Mitchell's undoing began on April 4, 2009, when a visitor to the Newport Beach hospital found a bloody needle cap in a women's restroom. Later, a nursing assistant and registered nurse separately discovered syringes on opposite sides of a chair Mitchell had been sitting in at Hoag. Later still, she tested positive for a painkiller despite having gone through rehab.
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Patch.com gets the scoop.

A California Board of Registered Nursing complaint discloses Mitchell mishandled medicine for seven patients at Hoag, which fired her on April 15, 2009. She had admitted to a hospital attorney that the syringes that were found belonged to her and that one had contained Digoxin that was supposed to be given to a patient. She confessed she stole drugs from patients.

Mitchell entered a drug rehab program in July 2009 with the stipulation she would refrain from alcohol, painkillers and other mind-altering substances, but she would test positive on March 18, 2011,
and April 5 for the painkiller Buprenorphine, according to state investigators.

Besides being barred from nursing in California, Mitchell must pay for the investigation and enforcement of her case, Patch reports.

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