NURSE STOLE DRUGS TO FEED ADDICTION

WHEN hospital nurse Alisia Monique Burns was stricken with debilitating
headaches, she became convinced it was the first symptom of a potentially
fatal hereditary brain disorder.

With ready access to the Royal Adelaide Hospital's supply of powerful
painkillers such as pethidine and morphine, Burns quickly became hooked on
opiates.

Her addiction drove her to wear disguises, forge prescriptions and drug
order forms, refill pethidine ampoules with saline solution, and steal from
a nursing home.

And her childhood dream of a nursing career is in tatters. However, the
Adelaide Magistrates Court heard yesterday the Marden woman, 30, had a
bright future.

She had beaten her addiction, discovered the headaches were caused by
depression, and secured a job helping counsel addicts.

Burns pleaded guilty to more than 30 dishonesty offences committed between
June and October last year, including larceny as a servant, false
pretences, and uttering a forged prescription.

Senior Constable Robyn Gillespie, prosecuting, said the Royal Adelaide
Hospital's director of nursing arranged surveillance after noticing
pethidine was being stolen.

When caught, Burns admitted she took the drug from cupboards and used a
syringe to remove the pethidine and refill the ampoules with saline
solution. This had been going on for two months.

She was suspended from the hospital on June 30 last year. By July 25, her
addiction had compelled her to sneak back into the hospital wearing her
nurse's uniform and a wig. Burns presented a drug of dependence requisition
form to the hospital's pharmacy.

"She (later) stated that at the time she was very sick," Senior Constable
Gillespie said. "She went through the wards at the Royal Adelaide Hospital
collecting drug of dependence order forms when staff weren't looking." She
also admitted stealing cash and items from a nursing home and pawning the
items at Cash Converters.

Ms Patricia McCrohan, for Burns, said her client had been a nurse for more
than eight years. Nursing was a career she had dreamed about since she was
aged 10.

She was unlikely to be allowed to re-enter the profession, but hoped to
forge a rewarding career helping drug addicts rehabilitate.

The drug program, which gave her counselling and helped her enrol in the
naltrexone detoxification program, had employed her. Her addiction, which
also included heroin abuse, stemmed from frequent agonising migraines, Ms
McCrohan said.

Burns was terrified she would suffer a brain haemorrhage, which had claimed
several members of her family. The problem was originally misdiagnosed and
the headaches were connected with depression.

Magistrate Mr David Gurry said the offences were "a good example of the
kinds of behavior" to which drug addicts resorted.

He jailed Burns for one year but suspended the sentence on condition she
sign a two-year good behavior bond.

He also ordered she pay more than $2000 compensation to Southern Cross
Nursing Homes and Cash Converters.

Michael Owen, Brown