Kentucky Nurse Accused of Killing Elderly Patient

A former Kentucky nurse has been indicted for murder in the death of a patient at a Lexington hospital.

According to a Lexington Police Department statement, Eyvette Renee Hunter, 52, was indicted and arrested Tuesday for distributing lorazepam (Ativan) on April 30 to James Morris, age 97, against orders from a nurse practitioner and physician at Baptist Health. Hunter "performed actions of medical maltreatment" to Morris, and he died on May 5 "as a direct result of those actions," according to the statement.

The hospital fired her the same day of the incident, and "Baptist Health Lexington has been cooperative and aided in the investigation," according to the police.

Hunter's nursing license was suspended indefinitely on August 22 after the Kentucky Board of Nursing looked into a complaint from the hospital. According to the suspension order, Morris had been admitted for a slip and fall injury.

"The report nurse informed Respondent [Hunter] that the patient had been restless and spent most of the previous night in the hallway sitting in a recliner," according to the suspension order. Hunter alleged that she assisted the patient to his chair, but he became "became agitated and aggressive, so she went to get restraints."

After her request to medicate Morris was denied, Hunger obtained 2 mg of lorazepam that was intended for another patient, the suspension order states. When Morris tried to get up and set off a chair alarm, Hunter came back in with other staff and gave the patient an injection. After Morris was sedated, Hunter was asked what she had given him, and she replied "something special," per the suspension order.

Another nurse found Morris struggling to breathe and his oxygen monitor disconnected; Hunter "had disarmed/lowered the oxygen monitoring system several times as to not set off an alarm at the bedside," according to the suspension order. The patient had low blood oxygen, and after a respiratory therapist gave him breathing treatment and suctioned him, they found "a grayish/black substance that was thought to be food and/or medication." This indicated he had breathed food or medication into the lungs, according to the suspension order.

Morris was given medication to reverse the effects of the lorazepam and was responsive, but ultimately succumbed to "aspirational pneumonia," according to the suspension order. Hunter's statement and written response to the Board confirmed she had given Morris the medication without an order, and fed him afterward. She also changed documentation for the patient for whom the medication was intended to state "not given," per the suspension order.

Morris' obituary stated that he was a retired federal government employee, and a World War II veteran, as well as a Korean War vet.

Hunter's LinkedIn profile indicates she was a graduate of Washington Adventist University in Takoma Park, Maryland, and had previously worked as a hospice nurse, and as a nurse at Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital in Lexington.

Baptist Health Lexington had not returned a request for comment from MedPage Today as of press time.

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