CORALVILLE, Iowa – A Coralville nursing home worker was arrested Saturday, accused of intentionally overdosing a female patient for months to make her work “easier.”

According to a criminal complaint, Sarah Price-Elder, 69, admitted to giving a patient a higher than prescribed dose to sedate him.

Price-Elder made her first court appearance Monday and was released on $2,500 bond.

Court documents show Price-Elder was seen on July 8 with an oral medication syringe containing nearly six times the prescribed amount.

An investigation into the incident at Brown Deer Place, a senior care facility in Coralville, found the medication was ordered more often than necessary. During an interview, Price-Elder admitted she began giving the patient higher doses in late April, according to court documents.

He now faces three charges: possession of a harmful substance, a felony; gross neglect of a resident of a health care facility, an aggravated misdemeanor; and adult dependent abuse, a serious misdemeanor.