When a new nurse manager took over the emergency department there was widespread disregard among the nurses for proper procedures for wasting narcotics.  Once that disregard had been corrected through reeducation and closer monitoring of the nurses it became permissible to terminate a nurse for substandard handling of narcotics. CALIFORNIA COURT OF APPEAL June 12, 2017

    A half-filled syringe of Dilaudid was found stashed in a cabinet in an examination room in the emergency department.  The label revealed a patients medical record number and a date which allowed it to be traced to a specific nurse.  When confronted, the nurse explained he had used his own discretion to "titrate" the dosage to fit the patient’s age and weight, rather than giving the whole amount per the physicians order.