Hospital technician could have exposed thousands of patients to hepatitis C

Kristen Diane Parker, 26, faces criminal charges for changing syringes containing a saline solution with ones filled with the painkiller Fentanyl from operating carts while working at Audubon Ambulatory Surgery Center in Colorado Springs and Rose Medical Center in Denver.

Parker injected herself with the drug, using between 100 to 250 micrograms each time, roughly enough medication for a 500-pound person, according to medical malpractice attorney Dr. Eric Steiner, a former cardiac anesthesiologist.

Blood tests offered to former patients
Mary F. LaFrance, an investigator for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, states that at least nine surgery patients at Rose have tested positive for hepatitis C.

Health officials are conducting tests to determine if the cases are definitively linked to Parker. They are not sure how many people were injected and contaminated with Parker's dirty needles.

Former surgery patients have been contacted by Denver's Rose Medical Center and Audubon Ambulatory Surgery Center in Colorado Springs for free blood tests being offered by both facilities.

According to experts, many people with hepatitis C don't know they are infected as the symptoms don't develop until years later.

Parker’s stint at the two medical facilities
Parker worked at Rose from Oct. 21, 2008, until April 2009. She was placed on administrative leave before they learned of the cases, and later fired her when she failed a drug test by testing positive for Fentanyl.

Parker went to work for the Audubon surgery center shortly after being fired. She worked there from May 4 until June 29, stated Dr. J. Michael Hall, Audubon's medical director.

Before joining Rose, she went through a pre-employment blood test which tested positive for hepatitis C. She was allowed to start work but was counseled about the disease and exposure possibilities.

Parker’s defense
She knew she had hepatitis C, she's a health care worker and she understands how this disease is spread," said Pat Criscito, 56, an author and freelance writer from Monument south of Denver.

According to Parker she did not follow up on the disease because there were no symptoms, she had no health insurance or money for a doctor and she got distracted with her new job.

"I didn't now that this was going to happen to the extent of people getting sick, that's something that I can't give back," stated a tearful Parker.

Charges against Parker
In the criminal complaint, she is facing three drug-related charges, tampering a consumer product, creating a counterfeit controlled substance and obtaining a controlled substance "by deceit and subterfuge."

She is in federal custody and if convicted of having inflicted serious harm to a patient, she could face up to 20 years in prison. If a patient dies, she could face life in prison.

Parker's case could end up being the first in Colorado where a patient got an infection from a health care worker who was tampering with drugs, said Dr. Ned Calonge, chief medical officer for the state health department.