(C) Iowa Capital Dispatch
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Nurse stole painkillers from patients, including a child mauled by a dog • Iowa Capital Dispatch [1]
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Date: 2025-07-08
An Iowa nurse accused by state regulators of withholding painkillers from multiple patients, including a small child who had just been mauled by a dog, has agreed to surrender her license.
Registered nurse Amanda Manatt, 36, of Marshalltown, was recently charged by the Iowa Board of Nursing with misappropriating patient medications, falsifying records, committing an act that might adversely affect a patient, and being convicted of an offense that directly relates to the duties and responsibilities of the nursing profession.
The board alleged that in December 2023, Manatt diverted an unspecified number of doses of controlled substances from a hospital’s supply and “took them for her own personal use.” In addition, she was accused of falsely documenting that the patients had actually received the drugs, which they had not.
Court records show that in 2024, Manatt was criminally charged with 10 felony counts of prohibited acts involving controlled substances, one felony count of insurance fraud, and one misdemeanor count of tampering with records.
State prosecutors alleged that while working at UnityPoint Health-Marshalltown Hospital, Manatt repeatedly withdrew painkilling drugs such as morphine, fentanyl and hydromorphone, claimed to have administered them to her patients, and then kept the drugs.
In one instance, a 22-month-old child identified as “E.M.” allegedly came to the Marshalltown Hospital emergency room in November 2023 after being attacked by a dog that prosecutors said “badly mauled” the child’s legs.
“E.M. was crying out in pain and Manatt was supposed to administer pain narcotics,” prosecutors alleged in charging documents. “Instead of administering the pain narcotics to E.M., Manatt diverted the pain narcotics and kept them for herself.”
Prosecutors also alleged that in December 2023, while Manatt was again working in the Marshalltown Hospital’s emergency room, a patient arrived with head and ankle injuries sustained during a fall down a flight of stairs. Manatt allegedly kept some of that patient’s fentanyl for her own use, according to prosecutors.
In March 2024, while Manatt was working at Mary Greeley Medical Center in Story County, prosecutors alleged, she stole hydromorphone intended for an emergency-room patient who was being treated for post-operative pain related to the fusion of spinal vertebrae.
In October 2024, all of the state charges against Manatt were dismissed with Assistant Marshall County Attorney Brianna Nelson informing the court that Manatt was then facing newly filed federal charges related to the same conduct.
Court records show the federal charges included eight counts of acquiring controlled substances through fraud or deceit while working at the Marshalltown hospital, plus four counts of acquiring controlled substances through fraud or deceit while working at the Story County hospital, and one count of one count of false statements related to health care matters.
In March 2025, federal prosecutors agreed to dismiss 10 of the 13 charges in return for Manatt’s agreement to plead guilty to two counts of acquiring controlled substances through fraud or deceit and one count of making false statements related to health care matters.
She is currently scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 14, 2025.
Other nursing board actions
In separate, unrelated disciplinary cases, two other Iowa nurses agreed recently to surrender their licenses:
— Registered Nurse Jennifer Kinson, 46, who was alleged to have stolen intravenous morphine from an unspecified patient or agency. The Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensure investigated the allegation and concluded the allegation was founded, the board alleges.
Without admitting any wrongdoing, Kinson agreed not to contest the charges and agreed to surrender her license.
The board has not disclosed where Kinson lives, where the alleged theft took place, when it occurred, the manner in which the drugs were taken, or whether any patients were harmed.
However, court records show that in May 2023, Kinson was criminally charged with prohibited acts involving controlled substances and tampering with records. She was accused of diverting medications from at least 10 patients at an Iowa Select Specialty Hospital campus in Wright County.
In November 2023, county prosecutors agreed to a deferred prosecution that resulted in the criminal charges being dismissed due to Kinson pleading guilty to other charges in another county.
The other charges appear tied to a February 2024 case in which police met with administrators at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon to review video evidence that suggested Kinson, a former nurse at the hospital, had stolen morphine from patients. Kinson was then charged with illegal possession of a controlled substance. She later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of misdemeanor fifth-degree theft and was fined $105.
— Licensed Practical Nurse Julie Porter, who was first licensed in 1989. Board records show that in 1993, while living in Waverly and known as Julie Wefel, Porter was charged by the board with willful or repeated departure from the minimum standards of nursing.
The board alleged she was employed at a long-term care facility from 1991 through 1992, when she failed to respond to reports from two certified nursing assistants that a patient was experiencing chest pain. The patient died during that shift, the board alleged, and Porter was fired a week later.
The board also stated in December 1991 and February 1992, Porter received five separate five-day suspensions at work for excessive absenteeism, falsely documenting treatments which had not actually been completed, and not reporting for work as scheduled.
As a result of the allegations, Porter’s license was placed on probation for two years.
Recently, the board charged Porter with failing to assess or evaluate the status of a patient and with committing an act that might adversely affect a patient. The board alleged that in August 2023, after working an overnight shift at an unspecified facility, Porter falsely documented completing a patient assessment.
“When confronted with video footage showing she was at the nurses’ station at the time she reported performing the assessment, (Porter) admitted she did not perform the reported assessment,” the board alleges.
The available board documents give no indication as to the patient outcome in the 2023 case.,
Porter recently agreed to voluntarily surrender her license.
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