Former Oregon Nurse Sentenced for Supplying Fatal Dose of Fentanyl to Friend

A former nurse from Oregon will spend four years and three months behind bars for helping a friend obtain fentanyl and methamphetamine that ultimately led to her death by overdose.

Danika Danielle Whitman (46) was sentenced on Monday by U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut for the death of her unnamed friend, a 45-year-old woman from Vancouver, who was found dead in her apartment on 16 August 2021.

An autopsy revealed that she had died from the toxic effects of fentanyl and methamphetamine.

According to court records, Whitman and her friend collected eight counterfeit pills containing fentanyl and 3.5 grams of methamphetamine from the home of her Portland supplier, Kayla Brianne Porreca.

Porreca was sentenced to five years in prison by Judge Immergut in March. The judge described her as a dealer higher up in the food chain, noting that federal agents had seized substantial quantities of heroin, methamphetamine, psilocybin mushrooms, Xanax, and Adderall pills in her possession.

Her Friend Was Dealing With Chronic Pain

According to Whitman’s lawyer, Samuel Kauffman, his client tried to help her friend who was dealing with chronic pain. Whitman had also supplied her friend with Narcan, an overdose-reserving drug.

Court records show that Whitman began nursing in August 2008 and was placed on probation by the Oregon Board of Nursing in June 2017 after she failed two urine tests for drugs.

Two months later, her urine tests proved positive for drugs on three occasions, and Whitman then voluntarily relinquished her nursing license.

Whitman was arrested on federal drug charges in 2022 and failed to report to court for nearly two years. She was homeless, living in a car, and had suffered a relapse.

Records show that the former nurse has remained drug-free since her re-arrest.