"Boston to tell 57 they may have been infected by paramedic" by Kay Lazar | Globe Staff, October 01, 2012
Boston health officials over the weekend began notifying 57 people who, they say, may have been exposed to blood-borne illnesses in the summer of 2011 when they were treated by a city ambulance paramedic now believed to have tampered with vials of painkillers and sedatives.
The telephone calls to potential victims will be followed up Monday with letters offering free medical tests to determine if they were exposed to infectious diseases.
The paramedic, whom officials declined to identify, is believed to have tampered with the powerful drugs during a six-week period in the summer of 2011, but officials said they could not be more specific about the exact dates because of an ongoing criminal investigation. No charges have been filed against the paramedic.
Barbara Ferrer, executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission, which runs the city’s ambulance service, said in an interview that officials do not believe the paramedic carried any infectious diseases, but acknowledged that health officials do not know for sure. Nor do they know how the individual may have tampered with the medications, which are in liquid form and are injected.
Health officials are notifying people treated by the paramedic out of an “abundance of caution,” she said.
Ferrer said 64 patients may have been exposed; seven died shortly after they were transported to the hospital by Boston Emergency Medical Services. Officials believe their deaths were not related to the suspected medication tampering and instead due to their “initial catastrophic injury or medical event.”
Ferrer said the paramedic has been relieved of all duties since the alleged misconduct was discovered on Sept. 6, 2011.
Officials are not saying why they believe the paramedic tampered with the medicines, but the incidence of health care workers stealing drugs to use for themselves or sell is not uncommon.
And yet the state is all tied up in writing medical marijuana regulations because pot might be abused.
News of the Boston incident follows disclosures over the summer that thousands of people may have been exposed to hepatitis C, including some patients at Exeter Hospital in New Hampshire. Authorities say David Kwiatkowski, a medical technician, stole syringes filled with the narcotic fentanyl, injected himself, then returned the contaminated syringes, which were used on patients.
See: Huffing and Puffing Over This Post About Hepatitis
Kwiatowski, arrested in July, has been infected with hepatitis C since at least 2010; tests conducted in recent months have identified at least 30 patients thought to have been infected by him, authorities said.
Thousands more who were treated at the New Hampshire hospital and medical centers in other states where he worked are being screened for hepatitis.
Dr. Ethan Bryson, an associate professor of anesthesia and psychiatry at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, has studied the issue of painkiller thefts by health care workers and said there is a dearth of definitive data to know how widespread the problem may be, but said researchers believe the risk for a health professional to develop an addiction mirrors that of the general population — about 12 to 15 percent.
He said fentanyl — the narcotic stolen at Exeter and one of the drugs the paramedic is suspected of tampering with — is one of the most commonly stolen drugs by health care professionals.
“Fentanyl lends itself to abuse by people who have access to it because someone can take it, get high real quick, and still function after a short while” because the effects wear off quickly, said Bryson, whose new book, “Addicted Healers,” explores drug addiction by health professionals.
Boston health officials believe the paramedic may have also tampered with the sedatives lorazepam and midazolam and the powerful painkiller morphine....
Just don't send the samples to the state drug lab.
--more--"
That is exactly where they were sent!
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