A former nurse has pleaded guilty to fraud and drug possession after admitting to defrauding a Quebec medical clinic of more than $55,000 to obtain opioid medications.
Lovedip Sandhu, a 35-year-old Canadian national and resident of Pierrefonds, entered her guilty plea in mid-January to charges of fraud over $5,000 and simple possession of narcotics. The offences stem from her work at a private plastic surgery clinic in Montreal in 2021, reports French-Canadian newspaper La Presse.
Sandhu was employed at Clinique K, a plastic surgery clinic in Westmount, where she worked as a nursing assistant. Her duties included preparing patients for surgery, organising medication orders, and dealing with pharmaceutical companies on behalf of the clinic.
Between March and September 2021, prosecutors say Sandhu carried out 75 fraudulent transactions without her employer’s knowledge. She forged the signature of the clinic’s owner, Dr Karl Schwarz, to place orders for opiates. She later collected the drugs from pharmacies and paid for them using the clinic’s credit cards.
Through the scheme, Sandhu obtained 3,778 one-millilitre vials of sufentanil and 2,138 one-millilitre vials of hydromorphone.
At the time of the offences, Sandhu was a registered member of the Quebec Order of Nurses and Nursing Assistants. She is no longer part of the professional body, having been expelled in 2022.
Following her arrest in September 2021, Sandhu told police she had developed an addiction earlier that year due to health issues. She admitted initially taking medication from the clinic’s supply before her use increased.
Police searches uncovered empty syringes and vials, several boxes of medication, and $11,000 in cash at her homes. Sentencing submissions in the case have been postponed until June.
