Former Roswell Park Nurse Sentenced For Tampering With Medications Intended For Patients

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CONTACT: Barbara Burns
PHONE: (716) 843-5817
FAX #: (716) 551-3051

BUFFALO, N.Y. — U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that Kelsey A. Mulvey, 30, of Grand Island, NY, who was convicted of tampering with a consumer product, was sentenced to serve 37 months in prison by Chief U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Misha A. Coulson, who handled the case, stated that between February and June 2018, Mulvey, who worked as a registered nurse at Roswell Park Comprehensive Center, tampered with and stole controlled medications, including Dilaudid, from various medication dispensing machines located throughout the hospital, which tracked and held controlled substances meant for Rowell Park patients. She did so to satisfy her addiction. Mulvey utilized the patient medical record database to search for patients specifically prescribed hydromorphone, because to access the dispensing machine, she had to first access patient profiles. At times, Mulvey would divert vials of controlled medications from the dispensing machine and not administer the medication to any patient.

On June 27, 2018, a scheduled vacation day, Mulvey was observed accessing a dispensing machine, carrying a backpack, and exiting a medication room in which she was not assigned. It was later determined that Mulvey had accessed the drawer for hydromorphone. She was subsequently placed on administrative leave and resigned in lieu of termination.


From June to July 2018, there was a spate of waterborne infections at Roswell Park, during which six patients became ill. An investigation by the hospital concluded that tampering of compounded hydromorphone vials was the cause.


The sentencing is the culmination of an investigation by the Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Fernando McMillan, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Michael Stansbury, the New York State Department of Education, Office of Professional Discipline, and the New York State Attorney General’s Office, under the direction of Attorney General Letitia James.

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