I might be misunderstanding your post, so please feel free to correct me if I am.
You wrote '...meds purchased that day might be part of this...' ( referring to opiate abuse. )
The only med though I read about being purchased that day was the questionable small purple box on the Walmart conveyor belt. The VI said it was an allergy med for people with high blood pressure (for which I provided that link in a past post. )
If that is the one you are referring to, it could not have contained opiates.
Opiates are controlled drugs, sold only through the pharmacy itself, where they are rung up, and paid for separately from other purchases.
They would never be handed to a person by the pharmacy employee, and then be directed to go have it rung up by a regular cashier.
The only medication that would go through the regular cashier is over the counter ones only.
As for the prevalence of drug thefts among nurses, it IS a major concern for hospitals and employers. Despite ever increasing stringent controls by all employers, a chemically dependent nurse can always find a way to do so.
Fortunately, in my nursing career I've been aware of only a handful of nurses who were involved in drug thefts. They faced criminal charges as well as losing their nursing licenses.
Not saying losing their licenses was the worst part. Dealing with criminal charges are another whole ball game for sure, but losing their nursing licenses would be catastrophic too.
That license represents such a tremendous investment of knowledge and hard work. It is the key to employment! I can't imagine any nurse not aware of those consequences.
With that said though, anyone chemically impaired has likely lost the ability to reason out and see the big picture. Addiction does not respect IQ level, education, standing in the community, etc.
So you may be right about your hypothesis. However, I'm hesitant myself to go there. It's one thing in my mind to question some of her decisions, ( personally wondering if she discovered something about MC's disappearance after the fact. ) It's another to jump to stealing drugs. Just my opinion.
A broken wrist may have required opiates for pain relief, or it may have not. I had a broken ankle and got by with over the counter pain meds. ( The two opiate tablets I took made me nauseated. )
BC might have too. Even if she did take them as prescribed, that doesn't automatically mean she would have become addicted to them, or would have progressed to becoming involved in drug thefts. That's quite a leap in my opinion. Just saying.
Personally, I can't go to drug thefts without probable reason to do so..
My personal thoughts only. Others may feel there are reasons to feel differently..
JMO
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