Former CO surgical tech held after hep C outbreak

Authorities say thousands of hospital patients in Colorado may have been exposed to hepatitis  C after a former surgical technician allegedly stole drugs from patients, injected herself with them, and allowed the dirty needles to be reused. Kristen Diane Parker, 26, was ordered held without bail yesterday by a federal magistrate who called her a danger to the community, the New York Times reported.

Ten former patients at Rose Medical Center in Denver, where Parker was employed, have tested positive for hepatitis C, which affects liver function. State and hospital officials want to test about 4,700 patients who had surgery at Rose Medical Center from October 2008 to April 2009, when Parker worked there, and an additional 1,200 patients treated at Audubon Surgery Center in Colorado Springs, where she worked from May to June.

None of the confirmed hepatitis cases have been tied yet to Parker, who told police that she believes she contracted the disease by sharing heroin needles. She claimed she only found out she was sick last month after the investigation started.

Parker could face up to life in prison under federal consumer product tampering laws if serious injury resulted from her actions. According to court documents and her own statements to police, Parker removed syringes full of the painkiller fentanyl from surgical trays and replaced them with syringes (some previously used by her, sometimes not) full of saline solution. She has not entered a plea in the case, but expressed remorse in her videotaped statement.

CDC officials are investigating Parker’s work schedule and the genetic fingerprint of her hepatitis strain, but they say no evidence of poor procedures in allowing inappropriate reuse of syringes was found at either facility that could explain the outbreak.