Former nurse pleads guilty to drug charges

MARION -- A former nurse accused of illegally dispensing morphine and other medications to nursing home patients has agreed to plead guilty to three felonies, her attorney said Saturday.\nPeggy Couse, 41, of Jonesboro will admit three of the six felony counts of dealing a controlled substance that she had faced, said attorney Shane Beal of Marion. She will enter the pleas during an appearance Monday in Grant Superior Court. Beal declined to comment further on the case.\nOne of the charges Couse will admit involves the death of a patient at Twin City Healthcare in Gas City, where she worked as a third-shift nursing supervisor, the Chronicle-Tribune of Marion reported Saturday.\nWitnesses told police they saw Couse give morphine to Virgil Dailey, 83, hours before he died from pneumonia on Jan. 4, 2003, at the nursing home. Investigators exhumed his body on Feb. 19, 2003, and found traces of morphine in Dailey's liver, but not enough to prove that it contributed to his death, authorities have said.\nCouse will serve a maximum of 14 years in prison, the newspaper report said. She had faced more than 80 years in prison if convicted on all six counts. She also will surrender her nursing license, which has been since Feb. 20, 2003.\nProsecutor James Luttrull Jr. declined to comment on the case.\nThe other two counts Couse will admit involve giving co-workers prescription medications without doctor's orders.\nThe first count involved an October 2002 incident in which Couse gave a generic version of the painkiller Darvocett to an employee who said she was feeling ill, court records show.\nThe second count involved Couse giving generic Xanax, which treats anxiety, to a woman who was complaining of depression after a miscarriage.