DENVER—A federal judge has ordered that private medical records be released to attorneys for a surgery technician accused of swapping her dirty syringes for ones filled with powerful painkillers meant for patients, possibly exposing thousands to hepatitis C.
Twenty-six-year-old Kristen Diane Parker faces 21 counts each of tampering and illegally obtaining a controlled substance. Judge Robert E. Blackburn Tuesday granted prosecutors’ request to turn over patients’ records from grand jury proceedings to Parker’s attorneys.
Blackburn’s order prohibits copying the records and requires that they be returned to prosecutors or destroyed.
Thousands of patients at two Colorado hospitals have been tested, with prosecutors linking 19 hepatitis C infections to Parker. She believes she was infected by injecting heroin.
