The state Board of Examiners for Nursing disciplined eight nurses this week, including taking action against seven nurses who abused drugs or alcohol.The board revoked the license of Christine Tracy, a licensed practical nurse, for abusing heroin in 2014.The board’s memorandum of decision said that Tracy of Ansonia was arrested in 2014 after driving on the wrong side of the road and striking two other cars.After being hospitalized, she was found in possession of seven bags of heroin. She was arrested and placed on probation for three years in 2016 after pleading guilty to possession of narcotics and failure to appear in court, the memo said.The board also placed the RN license of Juliet Clifford of Mount Vernon, New York on probation for four years, its memorandum of decision said. The memo gives the following account: Clifford, who ran a nursing home in Queens, New York, was arrested in 2013 and charged with falsifying records after a 74-year-old dementia patient was missing. She failed to report that he had left and destroyed pages in his medical record to conceal that he had left the home. In 2014, she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor violation of New York health laws, lost her New York nursing license and was placed on three years of probation.Connecticut law allows the nursing board to discipline nurses with Connecticut licenses if they have been disciplined in other states.State records show the board also:• Imposed a four-year probation on the RN license of Connie-Jo Gibeault of Brooklyn, Connecticut for abusing alcohol in 2016, in violation of an earlier probation.
• Placed the RN license of Sarah Sanders of Middletown on probation for a year in connection with alcohol abuse and mental illnesses that the board found was affecting her ability to practice as a nurse.
• Ordered a one-year probation on the LPN license of Beverly Wilson of Marlborough on probation for one year. She took a narcotic painkiller from Marlborough Healthcare in 2013 for her own use.
• Placed the RN license of Concetta Mancini of the Oakville section of Watertown on probation for four years. In 2006, she was disciplined for abusing Percocet and an anti-anxiety drug from Waterbury Hospital, and she appeared impaired while working between 2008 and 2010.
• Imposed a two-year probation on the RN license of Christina DiSanto of Stratford on probation after she was found to have abused morphine, Xanax and other drugs to excess.
• Placed the RN license of Brian Gross of West Hartford on probation for four years in connection with his abuse of alcohol from 2013 to 2017.
CORRECTION
Dianne Layer-Kelly, a registered nurse from Lindenhurst, New York, was not disciplined in September by the state Board of Examiners for Nursing. A Sept. 22 story by the Conn. Health I-Team incorrectly reported that the board had reprimanded her.
