The Cover Up Part Four

were waiting for him to be patient and that he would talk to them in about five minutes. Rick needed some time to clear his head and to think about all the follow up that he would need to do. He would also need to figure out what he would need to say to the residents and his staff. For some reason Rick thought he should check if Bret had taken his bedtime medications before he left the treatment center. Rick thought to himself, “Of course he had, you were the one who gave him his meds when Bret returned to the facility at ten to twelve. You assumed that Bret had gone straight to bed after you gave him his bedtime medications. As Rick had already opened up the locked medicine cabinet he figured that he may as well check Bret's bubble pack of medications.

To his horror Rick noticed that he had inadvertently given Bret a double dose of his pills. Rick had failed to see that Brad had already given Bret his bedtime meds at 9:00 PM. Brad had logged it in both the medication binder and the shift log book. As Rick was awoken from a deep sleep, he was not fully alert when he arrived at the center he just assumed that Bret had not taken his bedtime pills. The first thought to enter Rick's mind was what effect would the double dose of medications have had upon Bret? Would the medication error somehow have contributed to Bret's death? Rick had extensive knowledge about psychiatric medications. He knew what they were supposed to do and what their side effects were. He noted that included in Brett's bedtime bubble pack were the drugs, amitryptyline, zopiclone and seroquel. All three of these medications would have a sedating effect if taken in just the one prescribed dose. What would the result be if the dose were doubled? It occurred to Rick that such a heavy dose of meds could have caused Bret to fall down the stairs and perhaps break his neck.

Rick had to think fast. He was the one responsible for this medication error and he would have to think of a way to cover it up. Rick had a plan. As it was already Saturday morning, and next weeks bubble packs of medications had already arrived. Rick could remove the appropriate pills from Bret's new bubble pack and place them in this week's bubble pack. Rick quickly went to

work making the necessary changes. Later in the morning he would call the pharmacy and tell them that he needed a packet of replacement meds as a

staff had accidentally dropped the originals on the floor. The pills would have to be replaced in case they had become contaminated by falling to the floor. With great relief Rick thought this cover up just might work. He valued his