Jackson, MS-A nurse indicted on misdemeanor charges of practicing medicine without a license at a Tupelo hospice has plead guilty to two of the charges today, announced Attorney General Jim Hood.
Trial for Marilyn Lehman, a former employee of the Sanctuary Hospice House in Tupelo, was scheduled to begin today before Lee County Circuit Court Judge Thomas J. Gardner III. Instead, Lehman chose to plead guilty to two charges of Practicing Medicine Without a License (97-23-43). She was sentenced by Judge Gardner to pay a fine of $300 ($150 on each count). 
“One of the problems with protecting the rights of the defendants is that the prosecution is unable to disclose important facts until the case is closed,” said Attorney General Jim Hood. “In this case, we had two experts in hospice care at UMC and one at the world renowned Cleveland Clinic who were adamant that the dosage units given by the defendants in this case were so excessive that the pain medication in effect turned to poison. In one case, 67,000 dosage units were give to one patient in one day, yet the maximum documented in medical literature, for one patient in one day, is 5,000 dosage units. That particular patient died that same day. If one of my loved ones had terminal cancer, I certainly would not want them to be in pain, but I also would not want medical personnel to cause them additional pain and suffering by giving them an overdose.”

Co-indictee Dr. Paul White plead guilty on June 23, 2008 to six counts of aiding and abetting the practice of medicine without a license by allowing nurses to illegally prescribe and inject patients with extremely excessive amounts of drugs. He also entered a guilty plea to one felony count of Cyberstalking.

A Lee County Grand Jury reviewed all possible charges, including murder and manslaughter by culpable negligence, but chose to indict the defendants for practicing medicine without a license.