WVU Health leadership failed to address painkiller thefts as opioids
devastated West Virginia
[July 21, 2026]
By HENRY CULVYHOUSE/Mountain State Spotlight
WVU Health Systems knew for years that employees were stealing highly
addictive drugs. A federal settlement shows the medical system didn’t
take enough steps to report and stop the problem.
Between 2017 and 2024, drugs were disappearing inside the WVU Health
System while the state was engulfed in a deadly and widespread opioid
epidemic.
In 2022, the Drug Enforcement Administration launched an investigation.
Federal officials found systemwide theft and lax record keeping, and
said the state’s biggest hospital system failed to stop nurses and other
staff from stealing controlled substances.
WVU Health Systems and the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of
West Virginia entered into a $4.1 million settlement last week, which
mandates the hospital system adopt procedures to prevent thefts, and to
report when they happen.
Details of the settlement show that as early as January 2017, the
hospital system failed to report a suspicious order for Dilaudid, a
powerful synthetic opiate the Mayo Clinic said is used as a last resort.
As early as 2018, hospital officials recognized there was a problem in
the Morgantown area. That same year in February, a patient complained
she did not receive her Percocet, a mild painkiller, according to the
settlement. Records show the suspected thief, a medical provider, was
seen nodding off at the nurse’s station.
In 2019, West Virginia University Hospital hired an outside expert to
review procedures and issue a report.
“The report identified multiple, potential controlled substance
diversion issues, such as not securely storing controlled substances,”
the settlement noted. “Leadership at WVUH was aware of recommendations
to prevent diversion of controlled substances, not all of which were
implemented across the WVUHS facilities.”
During the first quarter of 2021, at least two medical providers
admitted to stealing painkillers.
Federal officials found the hospital system did not report these thefts
to the DEA.
The DEA launched its investigation into the issue in May 2022, after
receiving reports that a nurse had stolen drugs, according to the
settlement.
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 “During the course of the
investigation, DEA investigators learned that various WVUHS
facilities, at various times, systemwide, were aware of employees
suspected of diverting controlled substances from WVUHS facilities
and patients,” the settlement states.
Despite the incidents listed out over the years,
and the systemic failures to prevent the theft of drugs detailed by
the DEA, a hospital spokesperson in a statement downplayed the case
as mainly a problem of paperwork.
“Importantly, this matter concerned regulatory compliance,
recordkeeping, and documentation requirements. It did not involve
findings that WVU Health System intentionally engaged in unlawful
distribution of controlled substances or that patient care was
compromised,” the spokesperson said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of West
Virginia, which took the lead in the settlement, through a
spokesperson declined to comment on the settlement.
As to where the drugs went, Kevin McWilliams, a DEA spokesman for
the Louisville Field Office, which oversees West Virginia, said that
the investigators concluded most were being abused by the medical
providers who took them.
He said paperwork issues at the hospital made it very difficult to
determine the quantity of drugs that had been stolen over the years.
Moving forward, WVU Health Systems has agreed to implement a
systemwide invoice tracker for controlled substances, a dedicated
team to investigate the theft of drugs, a database of employees who
have been suspected of stealing drugs and an education program on
controlled substances.
Additionally, WVU Health Systems will install more cameras and file
any report of suspected theft to the DEA in a timely manner.
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