Patient death treated as possible homicide

LEBANON, N.H. (AP) Police reports say the death of a patient at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center was first treated as a possible homicide after employees raised concerns that family members had tampered with her pain medication.

Authorities later determined the Jan. 27 death of Susan Massey, 67, of East Corinth, Vermont, was the result of complications of disease and her manner of death was natural. The Valley News, following a public records request, reported on the Lebanon police reports. An officer wrote her narcotic levels were normal.

Police wrote Massey’s caregivers agreed to provide fentanyl through an intravenous drip on Jan. 27 to be administered gradually. The bag was nearly empty an hour later. A nurse hung a new bag.

It’s not clear what happened to the supposedly “missing” fentanyl. An assistant attorney general said the case is being reviewed.

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