The fentanyl-overdose death of a central Illinois nursing home administrator really called into question the judgment of the owners of Timbercreek Rehab & Healthcare Center for me. Apparently, the owners of the Pekin, IL facility weren’t too concerned the fact that their administrator was on probation with the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation for ‘substance abuse’ issues at the time of his hire.

Despite a background, which would likely call into question the individuals judgment around controlled substances, the owns of Timbercreek put their administrator in charge of a lock box at the facility that was used to store narcotics and other medications for patients at the facility.

Apparently the temptation was a bit too much, as a coroner’s investigation has now determined that the man stole fentanyl patches from patients and accumulated used medications rather than throwing them away to satisfy his compulsions. The nursing home administrator apparently self-medicated himself on the job as he was found dead in his office at the nursing home. During an investigation, detectives found remnants of fentanyl patches in the man’s sock.

While we can look at incidents such as this as isolated events, to me, occurrences such as these scream a lack of basic judgment on the part of the facility owners. How could this person’s judgment not be impaired by the fact that he was taking strong pain medication in an uncontrolled manner? How many patients’ needs were neglected during this episode? Certainly, let’s hope that this situation is a bit of a wake up call for nursing home management companies to select more appropriate people to fill roles as administrators at their facilities.

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