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INUVIK
A nurse who stole narcotics and injected them for personal use while working – forging signatures and making up patients' names to acquire the drugs – at Inuvik Regional Hospital, was handed a 12-month conditional sentence in Inuvik territorial court on Feb. 2.

Benjamin Cox, who pleaded guilty to forging documents and theft under $5,000 on Nov. 8, can serve his sentence at his home in Halifax.

He received one six-month conditional sentence for each charge, to be served back-to-back. As well, his nursing licence in the NWT has been revoked.

Cox stole controlled substances from Inuvik Regional Hospital between Jan. 24, 2009, and July 7, 2011. He forged narcotic control sheets, and forged other nurses' signatures – including that of his wife, who was also a registered nurse at the hospital.

Cox also made up patients' names on the narcotics control sheets so he could acquire the painkillers Morphine, Demerol and Dilaudid.

There were 43 sheets missing from the period of January 2009 to July 2011; a stark increase from the four sheets missing from 2006 to 2008.

Cox, 31, admitted to using the drugs at home in Inuvik as well as while at work.

He said he kept vials of the drugs in an eye-glasses case and would use a 30-gauge needle to inject himself. He said he would inject five millilitres or 10 millilitres every two hours, that he could tolerate the doses and kept the amounts the same. He treated patients while he was under the influence of the drugs.

"If someone did get hurt ... I could be standing here charged with manslaughter," Cox said. "I'm lucky no one was hurt."

In one victim impact statement from an employee of the hospital, read by team leader for long-term care Sue Clarkson in the courtroom Thursday, it was a "clever, complex, cover up operation."

She tearfully told the court she "respected Ben as a diligent and competent nurse."

"The trust lost will be felt by the community and staff for years to come."

Judge Garth Malakoe said there has not been a reported case like this in the NWT.

"These are serious offences. He was trusted by his employer, patients, people he worked with."

Malakoe added there were several mitigating factors which went into his decision: Cox is a first-time offender, he was suffering from depression, he was unhappy with his marriage at the time, he missed his young daughter who was back in Nova Scotia, and when confronted by hospital management on July 7 after the hospital pharmacist noticed discrepancies in the narcotic control sheets and an investigation was launched, he confessed.

Cox also paid his way through a treatment program from August to September and is participating in followup treatment and counselling, all paid out of his pocket.

He has been on unemployment insurance for about six months since he was suspended from his position in July.

"I apologize to the people of Inuvik because you trusted me," said Cox as he stood before the court, gripping the witness stand.

His conditional sentence forces Cox to stay at his residence in Halifax unless going to places such as work, an interview or counselling, and to abstain from non-prescribed, illegal drugs as well as alcohol. He also has a 12-month probationary period and must pay a $100 victims of crime surcharge.

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