A post-anesthesia nurse from Butler Memorial Hospital was accused of using her patient’s pain medication, according to charges filed Monday, May 8.

Falsified documents, patient testimony and a urine sample containing hydromorphone and fentanyl resulted in Deborah A. Shook, 55, of Herman, being accused by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office.

Shook was charged with felonies possession of a controlled substance by misrepresentation, furnishing false information, misdemeanors theft and endangerment of a care-dependent person for a series of incidents from 2022.

She waived the charges at a preliminary hearing Monday, according to court documents.

According to the affidavit, a patient in the post-anesthesia care unit in August 2022 complained to medical personnel that they did not receive the pain medication Dilaudid, which contains hydromorphone.

The patient said they witnessed Shook place two syringes of Dilaudid into her pocket before administering a third dose into the IV.

The patient told investigators she wrote a note to another nurse about the incident before Shook returned with the third dose and “pushed it through the IV very fast and it burned.”

Hospital documents confirmed Shook retrieved three doses of Dilaudid during that shift.

“Shook was noted removing 89 doses of medications in 13 transaction days … Her baseline comparable nurse removed 29 doses with 14 transaction days … Shook was 2.5 times higher on withdrawals than her peers,” court documents said.

During another shift, a nurse told investigators she noticed Shook had Dilaudid and Zofran sitting at her work station while documentation indicated the medication was administered.

Shook provided investigators with a urine sample, which was positive for hydromorphone and fentanyl, both medications not prescribed to Shook.

Shook’s current employment status at Butler Memorial Hospital is unclear.

A formal arraignment is scheduled June 27.