A registered nurse was sentenced after being convicted of stealing morphine meant for her 10-year-old patient who was in pain following open heart surgery, prosecutors said.
Kaitlyn Elizabeth Chalmers pleaded guilty to obtaining morphine by fraud on June 20 in connection with the drug diversion from the child at the University of Maryland Medical Center’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in Baltimore, according to the Maryland Attorney General’s Office.
She was sentenced to one year, with “all but 30 days” suspended, and two years of supervised probation, the office announced in a Wednesday, September 16, news release. This means she will spend 30 days incarcerated.
The case stems from June 25, 2025, when Chalmers was in charge of providing morphine to a 10-year-old girl healing from heart surgery, according to prosecutors.
That morning, Chalmers noted she had given morphine to the girl around 8:30 a.m.. However, the girl told hospital staff that she was in extreme pain within an hour, prosecutors said.
Another nurse became concerned about the girl’s pain and asked Chalmers whether she had given the child any additional morphine since 8:30 a.m.
Chalmers allegedly said she gave the girl another dose around 11:30 a.m., but never documented doing so in medical records, according to prosecutors.
Chalmers insisted the girl’s “pain was not responding to the prescribed morphine,” prosecutors said.
However, other staff members disagreed with Chalmers’ claims of the girl developing a morphine tolerance, as she had responded well to pain management a day earlier, according to authorities.
Later the same day, another nurse saw Chalmers’ arm was bruised and bleeding as she left a bathroom located in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, prosecutors said.
The injury was “consistent with intravenous drug use,” according to the attorney general’s office.
Other staff members also said Chalmers appeared impaired during her shift.
Chalmers refused to take a drug test as requested by her employer in the wake of her fellow nurses’ concerns, according to prosecutors. She was ultimately fired.
The University of Maryland Medical System said in a statement to WMAR-TV, “Once we became aware of the nurse’s actions, she was immediately removed from the unit and subsequently terminated, and UMMC fully cooperated with regulatory and law enforcement agencies.”
“The actions of this nurse do not reflect the values, mission or standards of our organization,” the statement continued. “The safety and well-being of our patients, visitors and team members is among our highest priorities, and steps are being implemented to ensure that this cannot happen in the future.”
During Chalmers’ two years of supervised probation, she’s not allowed to care for children, according to the office. She also can’t participate in state and federal healthcare programs.
Information on Chalmers’ legal representation wasn’t immediately available.
