A nurse at Broward Health Medical Center is accused of befriending a patient he wasn't assigned to, supplying her with syringes, morphine and other painkillers, and — while she was high — coercing her into performing oral sex, according to a police report.
David Paul Lazarus, 42, of Coral Springs, is now jailed on two counts of sexual battery.
The 26-year-old woman, who was hospitalized for kidney stone surgery, told police she had recently been released from drug rehabilitation and was interested in the drugs but not the sex, the arrest report said.
"The court believes that in your position as a nurse, currently you represent a danger, at least to women who would be your patients," Broward County Judge John "Jay" Hurley said. "The court's concerned, sir, for the safety of this alleged victim and perhaps for future victims."
Hurley on Thursday morning set Lazarus' total bond at $50,000 on the sexual battery charges and revoked his bond on a pending December 2011 misdemeanor battery charge, ordering that Lazarus be held without bond in that case.
Lazarus, who has worked at the hospital for five years, denied having any sexual contact with the woman, according to an arrest report.
"We were informed this morning of a patient allegation against an employee," Cathy Schwartz, a spokeswoman for Broward Health Medical Center, said Thursday. "We have responded by initiating a thorough review of the allegation, and because this is a police investigation, we're not permitted to provide any details at this time."
According to records from the state Department of Health, Lazarus has an active license as a registered nurse and no history of professional discipline or public complaints.
Lazarus' wife, Leban David, also a nurse, sounded incredulous when she appeared in Hurley's courtroom on her husband's behalf, questioning the veracity of a patient with a history of drug use.
"This patient did not want the medication? But David Lazarus was giving the medication forcefully?" she asked the judge. "I'm just trying to understand … there [are] certain protocols hospitals follow, especially with controlled substances."
According to the police report, Lazarus struck up conversation with the woman after her June 12 surgery for kidney stones and offered to take her outside to smoke a cigarette.
Two days later, the report says, he spoke to her about past drug use and medications and supplied her with two syringes of morphine followed up by a 40-milligram tablet of Oxycontin.
After the patient took the drugs, Lazarus allegedly shut her door, closed the hospital curtain, adjusted the bed, exposed his penis, pulled the patient toward him and forced her to perform oral sex, the report said.
When she told him "I don't want to," the report says he continued the coercion, telling her: "It would be quick."
A similar scenario played out two days later on June 16, when Lazarus supplied the patient with a higher dose of the narcotic painkiller Dilaudid than what she had been prescribed, the report said.
"The victim stated that she did want the drugs as she was just out of rehab …," the report said. "But she did not want to give the suspect oral sex and was under the influence of several drugs when David was forcing her to perform oral sex on him ..."
Lazarus and the patient continued to communicate by telephone after her release from the hospital, the report says, and when she asked him to bring her drugs, he agreed to bring her "something."
Lazarus had "unknown narcotics" in his vehicle when he was arrested at about 5:15 p.m. Monday when he went to meet the woman at Southwest Third Street and 27th Avenue, the report said.
Although Lazarus denied having any sexual contact her, he admitted talking with her on the phone, flirting with her and agreeing to meet her, the report said.
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