Abington Hospital To Pay Fine Following Employee's Drug Theft
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Abington Memorial Hospital will pay the federal government more than a half-million dollars to settle allegations involving an employee's theft of prescription drugs.
The US Attorney's office had accused the Montgomery County facility of failures that allowed a pharmacist to steal more than 35,000 pills, including the highly addictive painkiller oxycodone.
Federal officials say Abington Memorial has cooperated with the investigation since it began four years ago, and the hospital has worked to prevent drug diversions -- in part, through increased security and oversight.
Gary Tuggle, the head of the DEA's field office in Philadelphia, says agents "are confident that the steps that Abington Memorial Hospital has taken to secure controlled substances will prevent incidents such as this in the future."