Yale settles lawsuit over nurse replacing fentanyl with saline
A group of 95 women has reached a settlement with Yale University after a fertility clinic failed to provide pain relief during in vitro medical procedures, lawyers for the plaintiffs announced on Monday.
In a lawsuit, the patients said Yale's Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Clinic performed extremely painful egg extractions, ignoring their pleas to ensure fentanyl was properly administered.
While clinicians at Yale did think they gave the patients fentanyl, a nurse working on staff had stolen the vials for her own use, diluting the drug with a saline solution, the plaintiffs claimed.
A clinician at Yale finally noticed caps on the fentanyl vials were loose, indicative of tampering. After that, the situation was remedied. However, that took several months—the exact time length is disputed, but investigation concluded it was from June 2020 to Oct. 2020, at least.
Investigators also said around 75% of the painkiller administered to patients was either entirely saline or diluted during that period.
Yale was accused of poorly controlling addictive substances and negligence. While specific payouts were not mentioned, attorneys for the women said Yale agreed to pay “substantial damages.”
In its own statement, Yale said it had made changes to curb any future incidents from occurring.
"We will continue to do everything we can to ensure our patients and staff feel heard and that we have the strongest protections in place for them," read a statement from Yale.
The nurse who stole the fentanyl for personal use was criminally prosecuted and later pleaded guilty.
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