HOLLIDAYSBURG — A former nurse at UPMC Altoona was sentenced Thursday to four years’ probation after pleading guilty to criminal charges accusing her of improperly sedating a patient on June 16, 2021.

Tiffany Cobb Wissinger, 38, of Indiana, Pa., was accused of giving Propofol to a UPMC Altoona patient who was restless during an MRI. Investigators said Wissinger had no authorization and put the patient’s life at risk by administering the sedative without a physician’s order.

Had the case gone to trial, testimony was expected to include a witness who reported hearing Wissinger tell the MRI patient: “You did not see this” and “This is how Michael Jackson died.”

Jackson, the 50-year-old singer/songwriter, died in June 2009 at his Los Angeles residence of acute Propofol intoxication.

When the state Attorney General’s Office filed charges against Wissinger in August 2021, UPMC Altoona reported that Wissinger was no longer employed at the facility.

Based on the charges, Wissinger provided single doses of the sedative “two or three times” and was going to provide more when an MRI technician told her to stop.

In Blair County court on Wednesday, Judge Wade A. Kagarise accepted the negotiated plea to three misdemeanors: administration of a controlled substance without a physician’s order, recklessly endangering another person and refusal to record the administration of the sedative.

While the administration of a controlled substance offense was originally filed as a felony, District Attorney Pete Weeks said he downgraded the offense to a misdemeanor after speaking with the state’s agent who has additional charges pending against Wissinger in Indiana County.

“I would have liked to have had her plea to the felony,” Weeks said later. “But it was good to get an admission of guilt on the unlawful dispensation and reckless endangerment. Even if her intentions were well-meaning, her actions were reckless and she failed to follow rules that are in place for a reason.”

Pittsburgh attorney Jonathan Fodi asked Kagarise to accept his client’s plea and impose the recommended four years’ probation.

He described Wissinger as truly remorseful.

“This is her first criminal conviction in her entire life,” Fodi told the judge.

Assistant District Attorney Derek Elensky, who presented Kagarise with the plea agreement on behalf of his office, said the recommended probationary sentence falls within the state’s sentencing guidelines.

The plea agreement also required Wissinger to admit that it was Propofal she administered to the patient.

Kagarise, when questioning Wissinger about her plea, asked if she administered that specific drug and she answered yes.

After the sentencing hearing, Fodi declined to address questions on Wissinger’s behalf because of the pending charges in Indiana County.

A Pennsylvania Department of State online website shows Wissinger’s nursing license has been suspended since Sept. 2, 2021.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.