University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore (WMAR).
A Maryland nurse self-administered doses of morphine intended for a 10-year-old girl who was in “severe pain” after undergoing open-heart surgery.
Kaitlyn Elizabeth Chalmers, 27, pleaded guilty to obtaining morphine by fraud. A judge sentenced her to a year behind bars with all but 30 days suspended, followed by two years of probation, the Maryland Attorney General’s Office said.
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Chalmers was caring for the girl on June 25, 2025, in the pediatric intensive care unit at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore. The nurse was supposed to give the girl morphine via an IV around 8:30 a.m.
But the girl was complaining of “severe pain” less than an hour later. Another nurse asked Chalmers if she gave the girl morphine, and she claimed she did.
She also said she administered another dose at 11:30 a.m., though she did not document it. Hospital staff was puzzled that the girl was still in pain because the morphine worked well the day before.
Chalmers was then seen walking out of a bathroom with “bruising and bleeding on her arm consistent with intravenous drug use,” prosecutors said. She also showed signs of impairment. Her bosses removed her from the floor and requested that she take a drug test. She refused and was fired.
The defendant pleaded guilty in June and was sentenced on Sept. 9. In addition to her sentence, she is barred from caring for children during her probation and cannot participate in state and federal healthcare programs. She remains a registered nurse and there is no mention on her license page about her conviction, records show.
The hospital released the following statement to local ABC affiliate WMAR:
Integrity is one of the foundational values at the University of Maryland Medical Center and we have a zero-tolerance approach to unauthorized medication removal. Once we became aware of the nurse’s actions, she was immediately removed from the unit and subsequently terminated, and UMMC fully cooperated with regulatory and law enforcement agencies. The actions of this nurse do not reflect the values, mission or standards of our organization. The safety and well-being of our patients, visitors and team members is among our highest priorities and steps are being implemented to ensure that this cannot happen in the future.
Chalmers was listed as an inmate at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women, records show.
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