Some post-surgical patients at a Denver hospital were left hurting when a case management coordinator quietly traded out their prescribed opioid pills for over-the-counter meds, according to federal prosecutors.
In federal court in Denver on Thursday, former Intermountain Health case management coordinator Shelbi Wolken, 35, of Wheat Ridge, admitted she carried out the pill swaps using patient records and in-hospital pharmacy pickups. Prosecutors say her actions left some patients in serious pain after surgery.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Colorado, Wolken pleaded guilty to one count of tampering with a consumer product. Investigators say she used her access as a case management coordinator to collect an oxycodone prescription at the in-house pharmacy at Saint Joseph’s Hospital, then brought the bottle back filled with loratadine and other over-the-counter medications instead of the painkillers that had been prescribed…