Hep C Toll Up to 23 Patients
Addicted to a powerful painkiller, Kristen Diane Parker admittedly stole fentanyl from empty operating rooms while on the job at Rose Hospital. So, far 3,978 Rose patients and about 1,200 from Audubon Surgery Center in Colorado Springs, where Parker worked after Rose, have been tested.
Parker, who has hepatitis C, allegedly may have infected at least 23 hospital patients in Denver with the incurable liver disease, which is transmitted through contact with blood, by reusing needles in the saline-filled syringes she substituted for the ones containing fentanyl. The number of confirmed hepatitis C cases associated with jailed suspect Kristen Diane Parker continues to rise, with the state health department now reporting 21 preliminary matches. Some 6,000 patients are being tested in Colorado, plus several thousand more from a suburban New York City medical facility where Parker formerly worked. A Texas medical facility is waiting to determine when Parker contracted hepatitis C before pursing potential testing there.
The situation is prompting consideration of a Colorado law to require medical assistants to be licensed, as well as the need for cross-referencing computerized hospital reports of missing drugs and unexpected patient infections. Several former patients have retained counsel, and there also has been a call for medical facilities to switch to a different type of syringe with a needle that cannot be reused.
Parker, who has said she didn't know she was infected with hepatitis C when she substituted the syringes, is facing federal charges of tampering with a consumer product and obtaining a controlled substance by deceit. She could face a maximum sentence of life in prison if she is convicted of all 42 counts against her.