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State disciplines Bellingham health care assistant for prescription fraud

KIE RELYEA; THE BELLINGHAM HERALD
Published: Jan. 31, 2013 at 4:00 p.m. PST — Updated: Jan. 31, 2013 at 3:51 p.m. PST
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The state has placed the license of a Bellingham health care assistant on probation because of prescription fraud, the Washington Department of Health announced.

Tania A. Swanberg admitted to calling in and picking up prescriptions for zolpidem, generic Ambien used to treat insomnia, at several pharmacies.

She did so under her and her fiancé's names without authorization about 25 times, according to the Department of Health.

Those instances occurred September 2010 to October 2011. Swanberg, a former and longtime Sea Mar employee, was fired in August 2011 for calling in an unauthorized prescription for herself.

The state Health Care Assistant Program put her license on probation for five years.

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