Nurse Arrested for Fraud
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Updated: 3:46 PM Oct 18, 2007
Nurse Arrested for Fraud
A registered nurse has been arrested for using her job to get narcotics.
Posted: 6:16 PM Oct 17, 2007
Reporter: Marise Estime
Email Address: marise.estime@wctv.tv
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A registered nurse from Gadsden County has been arrested for Medicaid fraud.

The attorney general's office say Donna Cain Gatch used her job to fraudulently get controlled substances like Ambien and Hydrocodone.

Gatch worked with the big bend hospice unit in Quincy. Investigators say Gatch phoned in prescriptions and billed it to Big Bend Hospice.

They say the 56-year-old received more than 50 unauthorized prescriptions using her patients' names.

The Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control unit and Gadsden county Sheriff's Office arrested Gatch She is charged with 53 counts of obtaining controlled substance by fraud and one count of medicaid fraud. She faces up to 270 years in prison and $270,000 in fines.

Attorney General Bill McCollum said, "Anyone who abuses their position as a caretaker to obtain illegal drugs deserves the full force of our investigative and prosecutorial efforts."

Latest Comments

Posted by: diane Location: texarkana on Apr 18, 2009 at 10:23 PM

I am so sorry for your friend's medical condition. Of course she will be treated differently than the doctor. Nursing is a ghetto profession. Lots of nurses go on to be attorneys but you never see the opposite happen. That is because they never wanted to be nurses to begin with. Nurses make decent money so when they go to another profession it is always because they hate what they are doing. I do not now nor have I ever believed there is a nursing shortage. If there were then they would be treated more fairly. I believe you about your friend being a good nurse and do not see her crime as a threat to society. Had she been able to get the medication she needed then this never would have happened. The majority of nurses hate what they do and only work as nurses to make a decent living. You make more money in this profession with the least amount of education than any other I can think of. Lord only knows what the people on the Board of nursing do in private.
Posted by: pam winans Location: havana, florida on Nov 4, 2007 at 02:45 PM

It is repulsive to read the article on Ms. Gatch, a nurse (who I personally and professionally know) is a great and compassionate nurse who has delivered years of expert care to patients has certainly been discriminated against in the way you WCTV AND LOCAL PAPERS have reported her arrest and conditions as compared to the reports of Dr. T. Bixler recently. A CRIME IS A CRIME WHETHER IT IS COMMITTED BY AN ALMIGHTY DOCTOR OR A NURSE WHO DOES NOT COUNT!! I sincerely hope Ms. Gatch is also able to accept a plea bargain so "her excellent reputation" will also not be judged on this mistake. I also happen to know this nurse had severe medical conditions which almost led to her death several times over that year. Ms. Gatch voluntaily turned herself in to the Board of Nursing and Law Enforcement. Can this be said of Dr. Bixler? or was it purely alcohol? I also hope if Ms. Gatch is allowed to enter a plea bargain for positive reasons, you will be honest enough to report this in your NEWS!
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