BOSTON – A registered nurse was sentenced to 52 months in prison and three years of supervised release on Thursday on charges related to tampering with morphine prescribed to a nursing home resident in her care.
Gwen Rider, 42, of Northborough, pleaded guilty on March 8, 2022, to one count of tampering with a consumer product and one count of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and deception.
Rider, as a registered nurse employed by a nursing home in Worcester County, was on duty in a unit specializing in care for residents suffering from dementia on Nov. 6, 2020. During her shift, Rider tampered with a bottle of morphine sulfate prescribed to the patient by removing some of the morphine and adding water to the remaining supply.
Morphine sulfate is a Schedule II controlled substance under federal law.
A nurse on a subsequent shift administered the adulterated morphine to a patient before the tampering was discovered.
