An Iowa hospital nurse accused of “incompetent or unsafe nursing practices” has agreed to surrender her license.
The Iowa Board of Nursing recently charged Loreen Benton, 64, of Guthrie Center, with committing an act that might adversely affect a patient, and failing to assess or evaluate a patient as required.
According to the board, between March 2023 and February 2024, while Benton was employed at Guthrie County Hospital, she “displayed a pattern of repeated medication errors, documentation omissions, unprofessional workplace conduct, and poor performance.”
The board also alleges she was responsible for “numerous incidents related to incompetent or unsafe nursing practices that could have resulted in patient harm” and which were documented by the hospital.
Without admitting any wrongdoing, Benton agreed to refrain from contesting the charges and also agreed to voluntarily surrender her license.
According to her agreement with the board, Benton will be eligible to apply for reinstatement in one year upon a showing that the basis for the “revocation” of her license no longer exists and that it’s in the public interest for the license to be reinstated.
Other nursing board actions
Other Iowa nurses recently charged or sanctioned by the board include:
— Registered nurse Chris Armstrong-Barger, 50, was recently charged by the board with misappropriating medications of a patient or an agency. The board alleges that Armstrong-Barger worked at an unspecified hospital from 2016 through 2024. In May 2024, the board alleges, she was fired after being observed on surveillance video appearing to steal a 50 milligram tablet of Trazadone, which was later shown to be missing from the hospital inventory. The board also alleged that video from April 2024 appears to show Armstrong-Barger misappropriating injectable diphenhydramine from epidural kits at the same hospital. The board agreed to settle the case by issuing Armstrong-Barger a warning, placing her license on probation for two years, and requiring her to submit to a substance-abuse evaluation.
— Licensed practical nurse Payton Hanni, 24, who was recently charged by the board with violating patient privacy laws. The board alleged that shortly after she became licensed in 2023, Hanni was employed at an unspecified hospital where she repeatedly accessed records for patients who also happened to be employees of the hospital and then discussed her colleagues’ confidential medical information with other co-workers. According to the board, Hanni was fired by the hospital. The board agreed to settle the disciplinary case by issuing Hanni a citation and warning and requiring her to complete 30 hours of continuing-education training on patient-privacy laws.
— Registered nurse Kelsey Ludwig, 33, of Norwalk, who was recently charged by the board with violating patient privacy laws. The board alleged that in January 2024, Ludwig accessed the medical records of two patients for whom she was not providing care. She was subsequently fired, according to the board. The board, which has not disclosed where Ludwig worked at the time of the alleged incident, agreed to settle the disciplinary case by requiring Ludwig to complete 30 hours of continuing-education training on documentation. The settlement agreement calls for no warning, citation or other sanctions to be imposed.
— Registered nurse Emily Mellott, who was recently charged by the board with committing an act that might adversely affect a patient and with failing to assess or evaluate a patient. The board alleges that in September 2023, it received a complaint alleging Mellott failed to follow proper documentation and coordination of care standards. An internal investigation by Mellott’s employer, a home-health provider that is unnamed by the board, allegedly revealed “numerous occurrences of late documentation and incomplete documentation,” according to the board, which also alleged her actions “disrupted patient continuity of care and created safety risks for patients.” The board agreed to settle the disciplinary case by issuing Mellott a citation and warning and requiring her to complete 30 hours of continuing-education training on documentation.
— Advanced registered nurse practitioner Daniel Bench of Ankeny. Although the board’s allegations aren’t clearly stated in the charging documents, they indicate that at some unspecified time in the past, while working in an assisted-living facility, Bench failed to complete a full review of a patient’s prescriptive history prior to doing something that involved a controlled substance called Vyvanse.
The records also indicate Bench failed to consider a patient’s substance abuse history before increasing the patient’s dosage of clonazepam by 50%; failed to properly assess a patient for potential suicide; failed to adequately evaluate a patient before prescribing Adderall concurrent with other drugs prescribed by a physician; and failed to adequately evaluate a patient who was subsequently diagnosed as bipolar.
To resolve the case, the board agreed to issue Bench a citation and warning and ordered him to complete additional training on ethics, documentation and prescribing controlled substances. State records indicate that in 2023, Bench was working at UnityPoint Health and CommonSpirit Health.
