Subscriptions

Advertising

Resources

About Us

Contact Us

Create An Account Forgot Your Password?
Trouble logging in or creating an account? click here
Home This Month E-Weekly Newsletter Building a Facility Article Archive Second Opinions
Search:
Benchmarking
General Surgery
Accrediting/Quality
Anesthesia
Code/Bill/Reimburse
Building/Renovating
/_media/adv/web/images/2012/20120126_ASP_LB-154x100.gif
/_media/adv/web/images/2011/20111202_Arthrex_LB-154x100.jpg
/_media/adv/web/images/2012/20120123_PDI_LB-154x100.gif
/_media/adv/web/images/2011/20111003_Ansell_LB-154x100.gif
Outpatient Surgery E-Weekly

Can Protein-Free Diets Reduce Surgical Complications?

Restricting proteins and amino acids from patients' diets in the days leading up to surgery may lower complication risks, say researchers at the Har...

Robotic Surgery Patients May Have Unrealistic Expectations

Men expecting quicker returns to physical activity after robotic prostate surgery may have unrealistic expectations for the procedure, according to ...

Making the Most of a Staffing Dollar

"Today more than ever, you need to be certain you're getting your money's worth for every minute your staff are on the clock," says Donna Ferguson, ...

Archive > August, 2009 Vol. X, No. 8

Scrubbed and Stoned

A look inside the shocking story of how a surgical tech's addiction to fentanyl put thousands of patients at risk for hepatitis C infection.

Daniel Cook, Managing Editor

Kristen Parker lurks in the OR, watching over her shoulder as the anesthesiologist leaves the room. The 26-year-old surgical tech is alone. Finally. It's been several days between scores, too many hours since she's masked the pain of a failed relationship with the father of her young son. In a quick, practiced stroke, she swipes a fentanyl syringe from the anesthesia cart, replacing it with a needle full of sterile saline solution that she had hidden in her scrub pocket. No one will ever know, she convinces herself, already looking forward to her lunch break, her next opportunity for a quick hit of sweet relief.

Sign in to continue reading.
Email Address:
Password:
Categories: Not yet reviewed
Keywords:
Ashby; Ashton Paul Daigle; Attorney; Audubon; Audubon Surgery Center; Audubon's; Boulder Community Hospital; Boulder Community Hospital, Mr. Daigle; C. Choking; CDPHE; Center; Choking; Christus St. John Hospital; City; Club? Kristen Parker; Colorado Department; Colorado. Until; Community Hospital; Community Hospital, Mr. Daigle; Cook When; Daigle; Daniel Cook When; Denver; Denver's Boulder Community Hospital; Denver. The; Department; District; Environment. The CDPHE; HCV; HIV; Health; High City; High Club? Kristen Parker; Hospital; Hospital, Mr. Daigle; January; Jersey; John Hospital; July; Ju... show all keywords
Ashby; Ashton Paul Daigle; Attorney; Audubon; Audubon Surgery Center; Audubon's; Boulder Community Hospital; Boulder Community Hospital, Mr. Daigle; C. Choking; CDPHE; Center; Choking; Christus St. John Hospital; City; Club? Kristen Parker; Colorado Department; Colorado. Until; Community Hospital; Community Hospital, Mr. Daigle; Cook When; Daigle; Daniel Cook When; Denver; Denver's Boulder Community Hospital; Denver. The; Department; District; Environment. The CDPHE; HCV; HIV; Health; High City; High Club? Kristen Parker; Hospital; Hospital, Mr. Daigle; January; Jersey; John Hospital; July; June; Kristen; March; May. Audubon's; Medical Center; Mile High City; Mile High Club? Kristen Parker; Mr. Ashby; Mr. Daigle; Ms. Parker; Northern Westchester Hospital; Parker; Paul Daigle; Public Health; Pyxis; Rose; Rose Medical Center; Rose's; Rose. June; She'd; St. John Hospital; State Department; States Attorney; Surgery Center; United States Attorney; Westchester Hospital; York State Department; absence; access; accessing; actions; addict; additional; administering; administrative; admitted; agrees; allowed; anesthesia; anesthesiologist; anguish; answer; apparent; appears; apply; appointment; arm; aroused; assigned; attention; automated; aware; back; baggage; began; begun; behavior; blaming; blood; bodily; bottle; breaks; bringing; called; cap; car; care; carefully; carried; carry; case; cases; catch; caught; charged; charges; check; checked; citing; claim; claimed; claims; clean; clear; co-worker; colleague; conclusive; confirmed; consumer; contact; contaminated; contents; continued; contracted; controlled; convinces; counseled; count; counterfeit; counts; crashing; cravings; creating; cries; crimes; criminal; dangers; day; deceit; demons; dependence; desist; detailing; disaster; discovered; disease; divert; diverted; diverting; doctor; doses; drew; drug; duties; earlier; early; employee; employment; empty; emptying; ended; entire; escape; explained; extent; face; facility's; facing; failed; fallen; family; father; federal; feed; fentanyl; figured; filled; find; fine; fired; focus; forward; friends; full; give; grab; grand; great; guess; habit; harm's; haunt; health; heavy; held; hepatitis; heroin; hidden; higher; hinge; hired; hiring; hit; hoping; hospital; hours; ignoring; implications; incident; indicted; infected; infectious; inject; injected; instrument; interrogation; interview; interviewed; investigated; investigation; issues; job; jury; knew; knowing; knowledgeable; label; lack; laying; leaned; leave; leaves; lifetime; lifting; likelihood; limit; linked; live; lives; long; lot; lunch; lurks; lying; machine; make; masked; measured; medical; medication; medication-dispensing; meds; member; mental; mere; messed; middle; minutes; monitors; morning; moving; multiple; needed; needle; negative; negligence; noose; noticed; notified; numbers; nurse; obtained; obtaining; obvious; occasionally; offered; opportunities; opportunity; orientation; packed; pain; painkiller; painkillers; patient; pending; people; per-diem; personal; pertinent; physical; place; pocket; police; positive; possibly; practiced; prepared; prescribed; present; prison; private; problem; product; professional; prove; proven; providers; pull; pushed; put; putting; quick; ration; reacting; readers; receive; recipe; recreational; reduced; references; refused; related; relationship; remove; replace; replacing; report; reported; reputations; requires; resignation; rest; restroom; results; returned; reveal; review; risk; room; routine; routinely; safety; saline; satisfying; saving; scene; scheduled; scheme; screening; scrub; seals; seconds; sentencing; setting; shared; she'd; she's; shift; shoulder; show; sick; sign; simple; skilled; slowly; small; sneak; solution; spokeswoman; staff; stealing; sterile; sticking; stolen; storage; stretcher; struggle; stuck; subjected; submitted; substance; successful; suffer; surgery; surgical; surveyed; suspected; sweet; swipes; syringe; syringes; talking; tampering; taped; tearfully; tech; temptation; termed; terminated; test; tested; testing; theft; thought; thousands; tightening; time; times; told; traces; true; turned; unit; unravel; unused; urged; urgency; urinalysis; vials; waiting; warning; watching; weeks; window; worked; working; years; young; ‘This; ‘We

© Copyright Herrin Publishing Partners LP 2011. REPRODUCTION OF THIS COPYRIGHTED CONTENT IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED. We encourage LINKING to this content; view our linking policy here.

PRODUCT & SERVICE RESOURCES
Did You See This?
A showcase of products and services geared to make your facility better.

Architects' Showcase
Is a beautiful, efficient new facility in your future?
/_media/adv/web/images/2012/20120115_Olympus_AR-300x250.jpg
Other Articles That May Interest You
InstaPoll: Who Classifies Surgical Wounds?
Incident Reporting Systems Capture Few Adverse Events
FDA Collaboration Seeks to Stem TASS