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prompts review of 3,000 patients
Published February 17, 2016
Reuters
DENVER – An ex-medical technician has been indicted on charges of tampering with narcotics at a Colorado hospital, leading authorities to urge nearly 3,000 people who had surgery there to be tested for blood-borne diseases, federal prosecutors said on Tuesday.
The case was brought after the defendant was caught swapping a syringe containing fentanyl citrate, a powerful synthetic opiate, for a dose of an unspecified substance during a patient's surgery last month, U.S. Attorney John Walsh said in a statement.
The incident occurred at the Swedish Medical Center in suburban Denver, and the surgical technician in question, Rocky Allen, was fired immediately by the hospital, which notified law enforcement, Walsh said.
A federal grand jury later indicted Allen on one count of tampering with a consumer product and one count of obtaining a controlled substance by deceit - both felonies.
In revoking his license, a state regulatory board found Allen tested positive for marijuana and fentanyl in his system after the incident.
That conclusion led to concerns he may have been an intravenous drug user in a position to administer injections to patients with needles he had used, although no patients were known to have been harmed during surgery by his actions.
Colorado surgical tampering case prompts review of 3,000 patients | Fox News
And he worked in AZ, too.
Published February 17, 2016
Reuters
DENVER – An ex-medical technician has been indicted on charges of tampering with narcotics at a Colorado hospital, leading authorities to urge nearly 3,000 people who had surgery there to be tested for blood-borne diseases, federal prosecutors said on Tuesday.
The case was brought after the defendant was caught swapping a syringe containing fentanyl citrate, a powerful synthetic opiate, for a dose of an unspecified substance during a patient's surgery last month, U.S. Attorney John Walsh said in a statement.
The incident occurred at the Swedish Medical Center in suburban Denver, and the surgical technician in question, Rocky Allen, was fired immediately by the hospital, which notified law enforcement, Walsh said.
A federal grand jury later indicted Allen on one count of tampering with a consumer product and one count of obtaining a controlled substance by deceit - both felonies.
In revoking his license, a state regulatory board found Allen tested positive for marijuana and fentanyl in his system after the incident.
That conclusion led to concerns he may have been an intravenous drug user in a position to administer injections to patients with needles he had used, although no patients were known to have been harmed during surgery by his actions.
Colorado surgical tampering case prompts review of 3,000 patients | Fox News
And he worked in AZ, too.
