A Little Rock nurse accused of dosing a patient with unprescribed medication instead of the woman's painkillers is scheduled to stand trial in December on charges that could send her to prison for 38 years.
Cheri Elizabeth Bates-West, 39, made her first appearance Monday in Pulaski County Circuit Court to respond to charges of drug fraud and introduction of controlled substances into the body of another person. Judge Barry Sims scheduled her trial after her public defender entered her innocent plea.
According to the arrest affidavit, Bates-West was a licensed practical nurse at Lakewood Nursing & Rehabilitation, 2323 McCain Blvd., in March 2015 when one of her patients, identified only as 65-year-old BD, complained that Bates-West didn't seem to know what medications she had been prescribed.
The patient is a retired female nurse whose license is still active who is being treated for asthma, obesity, chronic pain and paraplegia and participates in her treatment and care plan, the affidavit states. The patient also has had part of one of her legs amputated, the complaint states.
Bates-West had been part of the patient's care team for about two weeks at the time, and nursing home officials told investigators that she was the only licensed practical nurse in that 200-resident hall and the only one there with access to the prescription medication cart during the shifts in which she worked, the affidavit states.
The patient's complaint prompted the Lakewood nursing director to give Bates-West written direction about what medications had been prescribed to the patient and Bates-West said she understood, but two days after the patient had complained, she complained again that she thought Bates-West had given her the wrong medication, saying she had been given something different than the Percocet she had been prescribed. The patient said that several times Bates-West gave her medication she did not recognize as being what she had been prescribed, the affidavit states.
During Lakewood's investigation into her complaints, the patient was able to identify the medication Bates-West had been giving her as a combination of acetaminophen and hydrocodone, according to the affidavit. Vicodin, Lortab and Lorcet are some brand names for that combination, and it's a lower-level painkiller than Percocet, which contains oxycodone, the affidavit states.
The patient also was able to identify the high-blood pressure medication as the pills she had been given by Bates-West instead of her prescription morphine, and the nursing facility discovered that Bates-West had not properly documented hydrocodone medication that she had checked out to administer to another patient.
In an April 2015 interview with investigators, Bates-West denied wrongdoing but acknowledged she had used methamphetamine and had been in drug rehabilitation.
"During the questioning, Mrs. West stated that the accusations against her were false and that she administered the correct medications to all patients," the affidavit states. "When questioned about her past drug use, Mrs. West stated that she did use methamphetamine after a Facebook post was presented to her having been located on her profile page regarding past drug abuse. It was determined that she was previously in drug rehabilitation."
The nursing home administered a drug test to Bates-West, who tested positive for amphetamines, opioids and benzodiazepines, according to the affidavit, which states that a positive opioid test "is consistent with the use of Percocet."
Bates-West told investigators she was taking eight prescriptions at the time, and a review showed that two of them would account for her positive tests for benzodiazepine and amphetamine, but none she had been prescribed would explain the positive opioid test, the affidavit states. The nursing facility sent Bates-West for more drug testing, but she didn't go and was fired, according to the affidavit. She has since voluntarily given up her nursing license, records show.
The investigation and Bates-West's arrest in September were the work of the Arkansas attorney general's Medicaid Fraud Division, which is also overseeing the prosecution. Fraud agents began their probe after receiving a complaint from the Office of Long-Term Care of the state Department of Human Services.
Court records said Bates-West pleaded guilty in January 2013 to a misdemeanor theft charge out of Logan County in exchange for a one-year suspended jail sentence, conditioned on her paying $1,200 restitution to Wilkerson Auto Sales.
Prosecutors have since petitioned to have her suspended sentence revoked because she had not paid any restitution or the $400 in fines and court costs she was assessed. She is scheduled to be arraigned on those accusations July 8 in Paris.
Metro on 06/25/2016