Ex-nurse given a year for drug skimming

SEATTLE, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- A former nurse at a Washington state clinic was given a year in federal prison for skimming doses of the painkiller Demerol that had been intended for patients.

Drea Lynne Gibson, 43, Fall City, pleaded guilty to product tampering for draining Demerol doses from glass vials and replacing it with saline solution.

"Using Demerol for herself is one thing, stealing it is another," U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez said at Tuesday's sentencing in Seattle. "But replacing it with something else takes it to another level."

The U.S. Attorney's office in Seattle said Gibson's tampering last year resulted in plastic-surgery patients not getting any relief from pain or being put on a more-potent medication.