Report: Police seized more than 700 expired pills, vials from adult foster care home

Michigan State Police seized at least 700 expired or fraudulently obtained pills and vials from two now-closed adult foster care facilities in Livingston County, according to a report from the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. 

The seized medication consisted of Ativan, Xanax, Gabapentin and liquid morphine. 

Blue Heron Pond in Green Oak Township and Nightingale Retreat in Genoa Township were closed in February "in response to the belief that the licensee is placing the current residents of these facilities at risk of harm," said David Harns, a communications manager for LARA.

The facilities housed residents who are physically handicapped, as well as those with Alzheimer's disease or dementia, according to LARA.

Both facilities were shut down at the end of February following raids by state officials and police. 

Harns said 15 residents living at the facilities were "immediately relocated."

Both facilities are owned by Holly Purdy. As of Monday, her operating license remained suspended. 

Purdy had an administrative hearing to appeal her suspension scheduled for March 18 but it was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak

"The parties in each case were offered and declined a contested case telephone conference hearing and have requested that the hearing be scheduled for a two-day, in-person hearing," Matthew Erickson, a public relations officer for LARA said in an email. 

No in-person hearing dates have yet been scheduled, as the Michigan Office of Administrative Hearings and Rules has temporarily suspended all in-person hearings through Sept. 11, 2020, he said. 

Erickson said a new owner has since leased the Blue Heron Pond facility, submitted an application for an adult foster care license and is getting ready to open that location.

That operator has no ties to Purdy and plans to call the adult foster care home Devotion House once the application is approved, he said. 

The application had not been approved as of Monday afternoon. 

A number listed for Purdy was disconnected Tuesday afternoon. 

The raids

Purdy has not been charged with a crime.

An "in-depth investigation" by MSP's Diversion Unit is ongoing, Lt. Brian Oleksyk, First District public information officer, said in an email. 

Police and state officials conducted a raid at Blue Heron Pond on Feb. 27 following a report by a hospice nurse regarding Purdy's request to fill a resident's prescriptions for Xanax, morphine MS and Norco, according to LARA suspension order issued Feb. 27. . 

According to the order, Purdy filled the resident's painkiller prescriptions after those prescriptions had been discontinued – 15 times.

During the raid, a state official observed Purdy's office filled with unsecured prescriptions, according to a March 13 special investigative report. 

"I observed medications on the desks, in boxes, in the garbage and I also observed numerous large storage containers filled with hundreds of current and expired medications labels for current residents as well as for residents that no longer live at the facility," Julie Elkins, a licensing consultant for LARA said in the report. 

State police also found "large quantities" of morphine in a basement closet, stored among snack foods, as well as additional vials in the kitchen/staff dining room area, according to the report. 

Investigators found a resident was without all medications, including a comfort care kit that contained morphine and Haldol, an antipsychotic, according to the report. 

While the resident's hospice comfort kit was prescribed, the medication inside the kit should have remained unopened until prescribed by a physician. No order was ever issued for the medication.

Purdy told a nurse the resident was continuing to receive the prescribed medications as "she has been pulling from her backups," according to the report. 

Additionally, the resident's Xanax dosage was increased from 0.25 mg to 0.5 mg without an order from the resident's doctor. 

Despite the fact the 0.5 mg prescription was never prescribed to that resident, it was filled twice in December 2019 for a total of 120 pills, a nurse stated in the report.

Expired morphine, hidden drugs

During the raid at Purdy's other property, Nightingale Retreat, police found approximately 180 Ativan pills prescribed to a resident were discovered in a front coat closet – in a plastic grocery bag.

Investigators interviewed Shelly Bell, the home manager, the day of the raid. She said it was normal for medication to be hidden throughout the facility, rather than secured in a central location. 

"I hide medications," Bell said in the report. "I hide medication in the hall closet, the art cabinet and in the basement. There are two boxes in the basement full of medication. I hide medications because I am afraid that staff will accidentally give it to residents." 

In a suspension order relating to Nightingale Retreat, state investigators claimed a resident was given expired morphine.

A different hospice nurse visiting the facility reported a resident's hospice comfort kit had been opened despite instructions that only hospice nurses open the kit. 

The nurse "determined that the medications in the hospice comfort kit had been replaced with an expired morphine bottle which was partially opened," the order stated. 

A staff member admitted giving the resident the expired morphine even though the resident did not have an order for the medication to be given. 

"This morphine was off color appearing to be gray instead of blue in color per the label. The lot number on the expired morphine bottle did not match the prescription box lot number," the order stated. 

The missing morphine bottle was located at Blue Heron Pond, more than 15 miles away.

The bottle was empty. 

Contact Kayla Daugherty at 517-552-2848 or kdaugherty@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KayDaugherty92.