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Oct 19, 2024

Texas nurse accused of swapping out fentanyl with saline

Texas nurse Alexis McNeilly (left) telling a reporter “No” when asked if she is Alexis (KTRK/screengrab), (right inset) in a Harris County Jail mug shot. A nurse in Houston, Texas, was fired from her

Texas nurse Alexis McNeilly (left) telling a reporter “No” when asked if she is Alexis (KTRK/screengrab), (right inset) in a Harris County Jail mug shot.

A nurse in Houston, Texas, was fired from her job after hospital co-workers reviewing surveillance video over a period of months in 2023 discovered that she’d been stealing opioids from an automatic dispenser by replacing the drug vials with saline, even injecting herself with fentanyl on the job on at least one occasion, court documents allege.

Alexis Joann McNeilly’s alleged felony diversion of a controlled substances offenses were committed from March to May 2023 and were first flagged by a Houston Methodist Hospital nurse who was conducting a “routine” inventory of the Pyxis “automated dispensing cabinet pocket,” said an affidavit of probable cause out of Harris County.

In sum, authorities have accused McNeilly, 25, of using the hospital version of a medicine vending machine as her own personal hydromorphone and fentanyl dealer.

The defendant allegedly “tampered with” syringes and vials by swapping out the opioids and replacing them with saline solution before returning those syringes and vials into the cabinet pocket.

Documents said that Houston cops were notified by an FDA agent on May 25 about a case reported by the pharmacy director at Houston Methodist Hospital. Five days later, the hospital’s pharmacy manager confirmed that a Pyxis drug inventory audit led to the conclusion that McNeilly “dispensed medication that was not prescribed by the attending physician” and put “adulterated medicine […] in circulation” that had the “potential to be administered by other medical professionals to patients, unaware that the medicine had been tampered with.”

“Complainant Beck stated that the Defendant was overriding the Pyxis machine to access the medicine that was not prescribed to the Defendant’s patients. According to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), an ‘override is a process of bypassing the pharmacist’s review of a medication order to obtain a medication from the automatic dispensing cabinets when assessment of the patient indicates that a delay in therapy would harm the patient,” documents said.

Surveillance video from 11 different occasions in April to May allegedly showed McNeilly “adulterating hydromorphone with saline” and, on four occasions during the same months, removing fentanyl from vials.

In April, surveillance video appeared to show McNeilly injecting herself “in the hand with the fentanyl syringe before returning to work,” authorities further alleged.

The hospital’s nursing director told police that when he confronted McNeilly with the video evidence on May 15, she admitted she accessed the drugs but claimed she threw the hydromorphone out.

“I hear voices telling me what to do,” the defendant allegedly explained.

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The hospital administrator said, however, that McNeilly, bruises visible on her arms, admitted using hydromorphone when off the clock. She was fired.

In early August, cops called McNeilly on the phone and tried to get her to make a statement. Two days later, she allegedly called back and drew attention to her past at Baylor University Medical Center.

“During the call, the defendant suggested that an incident like this occurred at her previous employer, and police were not involved. The defendant asked, ‘if police were involved this time because she admitted to it,'” cops said.

Further investigation allegedly revealed that the defendant, after causing her former nurse co-workers to become concerned by the number of times she was “creating overrides,” admitted that she was taking drugs.

“When the defendant was confronted about this incident, the defendant admitted to taking meds but only the meds that were to be wasted from the cancelled overrides. She explained that she is under extreme personal stress and that she took the meds to help deal with her anxiety,” documents said. “The hospital had the defendant take a drug test. The drug test came back positive for Morphine, Hydromorphone and Marijuana.”

Court records reviewed by Law&Crime show that McNeilly was arrested the day after Christmas and was later released on bond with conditions. As part of those conditions, she has been ordered not to contact the complaining witnesses against her, ordered not to possess or consume drugs and alcohol, and ordered not to possess any deadly weapons.

McNeilly must also be electronically monitored, must wear a drug patch, and has a curfew that begins at 7 p.m. and ends at 7 a.m. the next day.

After she was released from jail, McNeilly was spotted by local ABC affiliate KTRK standing outside of a car and holding a phone.

“Y’all recording me?” she asked.

“Are you Alexis?” reporter Chaz Miller followed up.

“No,” she answered.

The defendant was expected back in court on Tuesday.

Read the affidavit here.

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Matt Naham is the Senior A.M. Editor of Law&Crime.