Michigan Hospital Allegedly Allowed Nurses to Administer Drugs Absent Physician’s Order

In a July 19, 2021, article in the Lansing State Journal, Chad Martinsen contends that he was terminated from his position in the Sparrow Hospital cardiac catheterization laboratory, following a patient’s bad reaction to fentanyl.

According to the story, “[i]t was commonplace in the cath lab to give patients drugs as needed. … Doctors were busy and expected nurses to have patients ready and sedated, and to keep them comfortable as they worked. If they didn’t, the physicians might become irritated with [the nurses].” The article also states that five current and former nurses and cath lab technologists at Sparrow attest to such a common practice.

Ronald W. Chapman II, chair of Chapman Law Group’s White Collar and Government Investigations practice group, told the LSJ that he’s noticed a trend of nurses and other mid-level staff being punished in similar circumstances.

Chapman added that, if Sparrow had unwritten policies for nurses to be administering drugs without a doctor’s order — a practice that deviates from state law and procedures — the hospital could face serious trouble with the federal government:

“If there was an environment at a hospital or facility that sort of required that conduct as a condition of keeping your job, then some of the responsibility for the conduct really does fall on the institution. Many nurses respect the opinion of doctors or physicians … they may think it’s OK. I have to imagine many people did not know what they were doing was potentially in violation of certain board rules and federal law.”