As many as 350 patients who underwent surgery at Boulder Community Hospital may have been affected by the theft of a strong painkiller taken by one of the hospital’s surgical nurses, federal authorities said today in announcing the arrest and indictment of the nurse.
U.S. Attorney for Colorado Troy Eid identified the nurse as 27-year-old Ashton Paul Daigle of Lafayette, who was arrested Tuesday night by special agents of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
During a news conference, Eid and FDA agent Stephen Holt said that between Sept. 24 and Oct. 24, Daigle allegedly got into a Pyxis machine to obtain Fentanyl, a strong narcotic prescription medication, and replaced it with saline solution.
The indictment alleges that Daigle accessed the pain medication regularly, sometimes as often as 25 times in one day.
Authorities said it is not known the exact number of patients who were affected by the drug diversion, but as many as 350 patients had the potential of not receiving the prescribed Fentanyl during surgery.
The hospital began investigating the situation when anesthesiologists noticed surgical patients reacting as if they had not received adequate painkilling drugs.
But, according to Rich Sheehan, spokesman for the hospital who spoke at the news conference, any patient showing any signs of discomfort would have received additional painkilling medicine because anesthesiologists continuously monitor and constantly adjust the level of pain medication, said Sheehan.
“They were not in pain,” said Sheehan. “These people were really not in pain.”
Daigle began work at the hospital in June.
Sheehan said the surgical nurse was confronted by hospital administrators Oct. 24 and admitted to tampering with vials of Fentanyl. Daigle was immediately terminated, said Sheehan.
In a letter to the patients, Owen Ellis, chairman of the hospital’s anesthesiology department, said there is “an extremely small risk” that patients who received the saline solution might develop a blood-stream infection.
“We deeply regret this incident and apologize for any inconvenience,” he added.
Sheehan said that units of Fentanyl are kept at various locations around the hospital, but the only location affected was the unit where Fentanyl was stored for surgery.
Sheehan said the hospital has taken action to prevent a repeat of the situation. The hospital’s pharmacy has upgraded the system for monitoring drug usage to flag any suspicious patterns, he said. Any unusual patterns will be investigated immediately.
The hospital reported the incident to Boulder police on Oct. 24 and to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment on Oct. 29. Mark Salley, department of health spokesman, said the report submitted by the hospital is confidential. He said the hospital had a duty to report the episode to the health department and did so properly.
In addition to the Colorado Board of Nursing, the department of health also is reviewing the incident, said Salley.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or Pankratz@denverpost.com
