Nurse who stole and forged prescriptions was 'another indirect victim of Covid'

A codeine-addicted nurse stole prescription books from Mayo University Hospital in Castlebar and passed off forged prescriptions at pharmacies in seven different towns.

Sinead Donohoe, aged 42, of Scrigg, Ballyhaunis, admitted the theft and forgery offences when she appeared before a sitting of Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court last week.

There were 112 counts in the original indictment with the defendant pleading guilty to two sample charges of theft and four of forgery. The theft of the prescription books from Mayo University Hospital took place on dates unknown between September 1, 2019 and February 19, 2021.

On May 1, 2020, the defendant entered McSharry’s Pharmacy, Knock Road, Castlerea, Co Roscommon with a forged prescription. She committed the same offence on June 22, 2020 at Allcare Pharmacy, Barrack Street, Castlerea.

On September 14, 2020, Donohoe produced a forged prescription at Colleran’s Pharmacy, Bridge Street, Ballyhaunis. The fourth forgery offence occurred at Boots, Hopkins' Road, Castlebar on January 20, 2021.

Gda Tyrone Tobin told the court that gardaí in Castlerea were alerted to suspicious activity by a pharmacist in the town. McSharry’s Pharmacy reported that the amount of Solpadol requested on a prescription that was handed in was too high in quantity to be prescribed to any patient. Donohoe had handed in the prescription.

Three days later on February 15, 2021, gardaí attended the pharmacy and received 10 copies of the prescriptions that were in the defendant's name. The prescriptions were on Mayo University Hospital paper. Three other pharmacies in Castlerea confirmed that they had received similar prescriptions.

On February 17, 2021, Mayo University Hospital was contacted. It confirmed that Donohoe was a nurse in the hospital’s intensive care unit.

The defendant's home was searched on February 19, 2021. She handed over three prescription books that were marked as property of Mayo University Hospital. The woman admitted taking the books without permission and said she had forged prescriptions before tendering them in various pharmacies in counties Mayo and Roscommon.

During the course of the investigation, gardaí visited pharmacies in Castlerea, Ballaghaderreen, Ballyhaunis, Knock, Claremorris, Kiltimagh, and Castlebar and received copies of forged prescriptions in the name of Donohoe.

In total, 109 forged prescriptions using the stolen books were recovered. The hospital confirmed that Donohoe did not have permission to remove the books.

When interviewed by gardaí, the defendant made full admissions and was co-operative. The court heard that she had made up all of the doctor’s names and registration numbers that she had written on the prescriptions. None of them were real doctors. The nurse told officers that she had been suffering stress in the workplace and was in pain as a result of endometriosis.

Donohoe said she began self-prescribing Solpadol and became addicted to the medication. The prescriptions were solely for herself. The offending took place over a 19-month period.

Judge Eoin Garavan said it was “remarkable” that there were no fail-safes in place or red flags raised to prevent prescriptions being given out under the name of a fake doctor.

Donohoe, a married mother-of-two, has no previous convictions. She is currently suspended from her position as an ICU nurse.

Senior counsel, Bernard Madden, said his client had been impacted by a “toxic workplace environment” that existed during the Covid-19 outbreak.

Judge Garavan agreed that the defendant was “another indirect victim of Covid". He said while her offending began before the pandemic, he believed Covid-19 played a role in the intensification of her crimes.

“She was a different type of victim of Covid,” said the judge. “On the front-line struggling to cope,” he added.

Judge Garavan said while Donohoe abused her position as a nurse to feed her addiction, her feelings of shame were “absolutely genuine". 

“I don’t think she will ever forgive herself,” he commented.

The judge said the “only person she damaged was herself". He imposed a 16-month suspended prison sentence.

• Published as part of the Court Reporting Scheme.