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New York Nurse Drugged Patient for "Acting Up"

July 22, 2004
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer today announced that a licensed practical nurse formerly employed at a Delmar nursing home will be stripped of her license and banned from working in any health care facility for the next three years after pleading guilty to crimes stemming from unlawfully administering sleeping pills to an elderly female patient.

Mary Elizabeth Tomaso, 53, of Albany, pleaded guilty on May 18th to Endangering the Welfare of an Incompetent or Physically Disabled Person, Wilful Violation of Health Laws, and Attempted Unauthorized Practice of a Profession.

She admitted that, while working the midnight shift at Good Samaritan Lutheran Health Care Center between January 11 - 23, 2004, she unlawfully gave an 88-year-old patient over-the-counter medication even though she knew that the patient was not supposed to receive any medication during her shift, and that she was violating the nursing home’s rules by administering a medication that had not been ordered by a physician. According to prosecutors, Tomaso admitted that she unlawfully medicated the patient on multiple occasions because the patient was “acting up.”

Appearing Tuesday night in Town of Bethlehem Justice Court before Judge Paul Dwyer, Tomaso was sentenced to three years’ probation, during which time she will not be allowed to work in the health care field. She has already begun the process with the state Department of Education to relinquish her license.

Tomaso worked as a licensed practical nurse at Good Samaritan Lutheran Health Center, located at 125 Rockefeller Road in Delmar, from August 31, 1999, to February 3, 2004, when she was terminated as a result of this incident.

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July 5 2008

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