RN hired by nursing home despite conviction for drug theft and distribution
The PostStar.com had an article about a registered nurse working at a nursing home despite being convicted and sent to prison for selling prescription drugs he stole from the hospital where he had worked. How could he keep his license? Why would a nursing home hire him for a job where he could steal drugs again?
Bradley Winslow is on parole until August 2009, and said Tuesday he did not lose his nursing license, and was not disciplined by the state, for the January 2007 conviction for third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance.
He said he "fully disclosed" the conviction when applying for a job at the nursing home, and that the nursing home was aware of his conviction when they looked into his background.
Winslow was a nurse at Saratoga Hospital when he was arrested in July 2005 on charges he sold stolen morphine to an informant for the state Department of Health. He had taken the morphine while working at the hospital. The informant was a doctor who later died of a heroin overdose.
Winslow said he was not disciplined by the state, a comment that was corroborated by the Web site of the state Office of Professions, which lists disciplinary actions against licensed professionals in New York, including nurses. His name is not included among those subjected to disciplinary cases.
Jane Briggs, a spokeswoman for the state Education Department, which oversees the Office of Professions, said the agency could not discuss Winslow’s disciplinary history because it was "pending." She could not explain why the matter would still be "pending" 23 months after he was sent to prison, though.
