Nurse Pilfered Fentanyl From Tennessee Hospital For Months And AI Overlooked It

An artificial intelligence-powered software failed to notice that a nurse at a Tennessee hospital was stealing fentanyl for several months, CBS News first reported on Monday.

Anesthesia team members at Erlanger Baroness Hospital in Chattanooga became concerned when a nurse appeared to be slurring his speech and having difficulty staying awake while working in the surgery center in June 2025, CBS News reported, citing a Tennessee Board of Nursing consent order. The order indicates that the nurse later failed a drug test and was removed from his role.

The nurse later conceded that he had taken and misused leftover fentanyl from surgeries over the course of several months, in some cases daily, according to CBS News.

The hospital relies on Sentri7, a medication-monitoring software that utilizes AI and is supposed to detect missing drugs faster than humans can, the outlet reported. Sentri7 was apparently unable to detect missing drugs at Erlanger for several months and also failed to notice other “inconsistencies” that “should have been flagged,” per the consent order.

André Rebelo, a spokesperson for Wolters Kluwer — the Dutch technology company that created Sentri7 — declined to answer CBS News’ questions about what occurred at Erlanger but maintained that the company is “confident in our software.”

“As we continue to support the responsible application of AI in