By Kate Farrish

The Board of Examiners for Nursing this month disciplined five nurses, including two registered nurses who stole drugs meant for patients and took them for their own use.

Meeting in Hartford on April 17, the board imposed a four-year probation on the registered nurse license of Kerry Donlon of the Oakville section of Watertown, who stole the opioid painkiller Hydromorphone for her own use while working as a nurse at Yale New Haven Hospital in 2016, a consent order she agreed to said.

Donlon also took allergy medicine and medicine for muscle spasms for her own use while working as a nurse at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport in 2018, the order said. She used all three drugs to excess, the order said. Donlon chose not to contest the allegations.

The board also imposed a four-year probation on the RN license of Cynthia Pfeiffer of New Fairfield, who stole the painkillers Percocet and oxycodone from the stock of drugs meant for patients while working as a nurse in 2016 at Candlewood Valley Health Care in New Milford, a consent order she agreed to said.

The order said that she also abused those drugs to excess during 2016. By signing the order, she did not contest the allegations.

The board reinstated the RN license of Debra George of Southington and placed it on probation for four years. In 2013, she had voluntarily surrendered her license after state officials said she had abused morphine, a consent order she agreed to said. She has been attending therapy sessions and passed all drug tests since 2013, records show. In signing the order, she chose not to contest the allegation.

The board also imposed a three-year probation on the RN license of Donna Duncan of Watertown. A consent order she agreed to said that between 2014 to 2018, she had abused alcohol to excess. Her alcohol tests have been negative since July, the order said. In signing the order, she admitted no wrongdoing but chose not to contest the allegations.

The board also added six months of probation to the two years already imposed on Nicole Santo, a licensed practical nurse from Waterbury, because in 2018, she tested positive for an anti-anxiety drug in violation of the board’s previous order, state records show. While admitting no wrongdoing, Santo chose not to contest the latest allegation.

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