Colorado: Bail Denied for Surgery Technician in Hepatitis C Scare

In Denver on Thursday, a judge denied bail for a surgical technician accused of a drug-theft scheme that potentially exposed nearly 6,000 patients to her hepatitis C infection.

The technician is alleged to have stolen syringes filled with the powerful narcotic Fentanyl, then replaced them with dirty syringes filled with saline solution. She worked from Oct. 21 to April 13 at Denver's Rose Medical Center; she was fired when she failed a drug test after being discovered in an operating room where she was not assigned. From May 4 until June 29, she worked at Audubon Ambulatory Surgery Center in Colorado Springs.

The woman tested positive for hepatitis C before beginning work at Rose, but she claimed in a videotaped deposition that hospital officials never made it clear she had the virus. She failed to follow up with her doctor as instructed, she said, because she was asymptomatic, did not have health insurance or money to see a doctor, and was distracted by her new job.

US Magistrate Judge Craig B. Shaffer rejected this contention. "Short of shooting a flare into the sky, I don't know what more they could do," he said of the notice provided by Rose officials. Shaffer said the woman's failure to follow up as instructed, then proceeding to swap her used syringes knowing they would be used to administer patient injections, made her a risk to the community. Ten Rose patients have tested positive for hepatitis C infection.

"Every time she did that she committed an assault," said Assistant US Attorney Jaime Pena.

The technician is facing federal charges of tampering with a consumer product, creating a counterfeit controlled substance, and obtaining a controlled substance by deception or subterfuge. Additional charges may be forthcoming.

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