Kansas nurse pleads guilty to over-drugging dementia patient

A Kansas nurse who texted a co-worker a picture of a dementia patient slumped over in a wheelchair and then suggested she was responsible and deserved thanks has pleaded guilty to intentionally administering the wrong medication.

The Kansas City Star reports that 37-year-old Jennifer Lynn Reavis, of Atchison, is free on bond as she awaits sentencing on charges of endangerment, unlawful administration of a controlled substance and battery. She pleaded guilty to the charges Friday in Leavenworth County District Court.

In May 2019, administrators with Twin Oaks Rehab Center in Lansing contacted police after discovering that a patient had been getting evening medications along with the anti-anxiety drug Ativan and Benadryl when she was not supposed to.

“Your (sic) welcome! I hope she is asleep most of the day tomorrow,” prosecutors said Reaves wrote to an oncoming night nurse in a text that included the photograph of the victim apparently sleeping in a wheelchair. “Hint hint.”

The medication caused the patient to become lethargic and be hospitalized, prosecutors say.

Reavis admitted to police giving the medicine to the woman, saying she tried to wander away from the nursing home.

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