Can I be held criminally liable if I disposed of narcotic medication given to my wife by an at home hospice program after she passed?

20 years ago when my father died, hospice came in and flushed all of his morphine down the toilet. Good thing they did, my mother probably would have taken some!! Not sure if hospice still flushes morphine down the toilet anymore.

Please don't throw any medications into a sink, toilet, etc. Destroy prescription on bottle. Do not take the pills yourself or give them away. Correct disposal of meds depends on where you live. Some pharmacies will take them or have a box set up for unused narcotics. Local governments have a Take Back Day a couple of times a year. You can also get a bag with a carbon mixture in it to neutralize the pills from some organizations or online. No one will arrest you for disposing of the narcotics done in a responsible way. Google online also has helpful hints. Contacting hospice or wife's doctor would also be a choice.

The hospice provider for my sister told us how to dispose of her leftover meds.

I can't imagine that you would have any issues if you threw them out. You could be in trouble if you sold them and you got caught. (Not implying that you did.)

I am so sorry for your loss. May God grant you grieving mercies and wisdom during this difficult time.

While I can’t say for sure, I seriously doubt it.

My dad was on home hospice and right after he passed I got rid of all the Oxycodone and Ativan almost immediately. My mom had been misusing her own Oxy prescription for several years and I didn’t want her dipping into my dads meds. In my own defense - the hospice people had never mentioned anything about any left over medications.

It was several days after my dad passed before the hospice folks called me about getting his leftover meds. I told them that I had dumped them and the reason why. They didn’t say anything more to me about it.

This was eight years ago and I live in Oregon. So, who knows? Maybe the laws and procedures have tightened up since then and/or maybe it varies from State to State. BUT - if they didn’t say anything to you about it before hand - when they brought the medication into your home - I can’t see how they could possibly hold you criminally liable for something that they never told you was a criminal liability.

I wouldn’t worry about it.
Take care. I am sorry for the loss of your wife.

Not sure of cat litter will work. It has to be wet enough to dissolve the pills. The grounds I mentioned need to be wet. The pills will dissolve.

If there's a house cat in the family, mix the pills with "used" kitty litter and dispose of it the usual way.

I spoke to a police dept about my mother's Hydrocodone after she passed. They suggested I take them to a local pharmacy that have a program to take old drugs. You can Google that info or call your local pharmacy and ask.

I seriously doubt it. If ever approached, reply with shocked innocence : "Oh, my GOODNESS! I tossed it down the drain! Was I not supposed to?? I had no idea! No one ever told me". Worst fear for any hospice is that these meds get out into the community of addiction, causes an OD, etc. They were negligent in not telling you what to do with the drugs.
If you worry overmuch about this call the Hospice and tell them you were on a site and it was suggested that one can get in "trouble" for keeping drugs or disposing of them, and that you had no idea, and tossed them. Now you are waiting for the men in blue to come haul you away. They will reassure you.

Hospice is suppose to get rid of these medications at the time of death. They did with my Dad. Call them and ask how to dispose of them.

I worked as a secretary for our local VNA. DO NOT flush the pills down the toilet. If you drink coffee and have the grounds left over from brueing it, put the grounds in a container you can seal. Then put the pills in the grounds, mixing them in. This will neutralize the pills. Seal the container well and throw into the regular trash.

Police stations where I live now have pill drop offs. Just make sure you take the labels off of the containers.

If it was legally prescribed schedule 3 narcotics, like morphine, I don't think you have any worries. FYI there are drop boxes for those types of things at police stations (at least there are where I live). They don't want people flushing them down the toilet to go into our water systems or into our landfills. People can also contact the hospice agency for advice on how to properly dispose of these leftovers. I don't know if the hospice people are allowed to take it back since it was prescribed to your wife. I don't think you have anything to worry about -- please don't stress over it -- you've been through enough. I'm so sorry for your loss...