Connecticut Board Disciplines Eight Nurses


The state Board of Examiners for Nursing last week disciplined eight nurses, including seven for cases that involved drugs.

The board last Wednesday revoked the registered nurse license of Lisa Fabrizio, who is formerly from Monroe, after it found that she took jewelry from patients and computers from her work at Lighthouse Home Healthcare in Old Saybrook and was trading the goods for heroin, state records show.

In June, she was charged by Stratford police with third-degree larceny after a detective determined she was pawning stolen jewelry, tools and electronics in local shops, state records show.

She is also facing multiple criminal charges in connection with a hit-and-run accident in August, when she told police she had recently used heroin, records show. The board found that her abuse of heroin was affecting her practice as a nurse and that her thefts constituted a failure to conform to the standards of the nursing profession, records show.

The board also revoked the RN license of Adrian Kozikowski of New Britain because, state records show, he left a shift in July at Autumn Lake Healthcare in New Britain and fell asleep or lost consciousness due to drug use.

Between April and July, he abused alcohol, marijuana and Ecstacy, records show.

The board also revoked the license of Dorsey Saunders, a licensed practical nurse from Bridgeport, for failing to comply with the terms of a four-year probation imposed in March 2016.

The probation was ordered after she was found stealing drugs, including oxycodone and fentanyl, while on duty at Fairview of Fairfield, a nursing home in the Southport section of Fairfield, records show.

The board also:

• Placed the RN license of Amanda Alarcon of Shelton on probation for four years after finding that she abused heroin from 2011 to 2014. Records show she is receiving substance abuse treatment.

• Imposed a two-year probation on the RN license of Jessica Carlson of Middletown. Records show that while working at MidState Medical Center in Meriden, she took the opioid Dilaudid for her own use in 2011 to 2012. Records show she also abused Dilaudid from 2011 to 2014, and while working at the Water’s Edge Center for Health & Rehabilitation in Middletown, she took controlled substances and failed to document medical records.

• Reprimanded the LPN license of Akiko Mallett of West Hartford, who, records show, inappropriately physically examined a patient at Arden Courts Manor in Farmington after becoming aware of possible inappropriate physical conduct between an employee and a resident. The facility filed a plan of correction with the state Department of Public Health, and Mallett completed courses on critical thinking skills and the scope of practice for an LPN.

• Imposed a one-year probation and a reprimand on the RN license of Melissa Tackett of Cromwell. Records show that in September, she took 46 capsules of the antibiotic Cephalexin from the Middlesex Health Care Center while working there as a nurse.

• Placed the RN license of Heather Wettemann of Killingworth on probation for four years and ordered random drug tests. Records show that Wettemann has admitted she has a history of abusing controlled substances.

Also, the board dismissed all charges against Dawn Noyce, an RN from Canterbury, because she voluntarily surrendered her nursing license. Records show she has struggled with drug and alcohol abuse and pleaded guilty in April 2015 to driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

 

 

 

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