 |
|
|
|
|
  
|
Narcotics-stealing nurse sentenced Katherine Hudson Northern News Services Published Monday, February 6, 2012
Benjamin Cox, who pleaded guilty to forging documents and theft under $5,000 on Nov. 8, 2011, 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 As well, his nursing licence in the NWT has been revoked.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, shredded and destroyed some sheets and forged nurses' signatures - including his wife's signature, 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 pain-killers Morphine, Demerol and Dilaudid. There were 43 sheets missing from 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." Judge Garth Malakoe said there were several factors for leniency that 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 an addictions treatment program from August to September and is participating in follow-up 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 and alcohol. He also has a 12-month probationary period and must pay a $100 victim surcharge.
|
