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Iowa nurse accused of taking drugs from patients sentenced

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June 26th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A Cedar Rapids nurse accused of taking painkillers from hospital patients’ intravenous lines and injecting herself has been sentenced to four months in federal prison. Federal prosecutors say 43-year-old Kelly Postel, of Anamosa, was sentenced Friday to the prison term and fined $5500. She also was ordered to pay restitution and forfeit her nursing license. Prosecutors say Postel obtained an excess amount of fentanyl and morphine from the hospital pharmacy and administered patients’ prescribed amounts and then injected herself while at work with the leftover drugs. Authorities also say Postel took fentanyl from a patient by using a syringe to withdraw it from an intravenous line and injected herself while still at work.