DENVER—Federal prosecutors reduced the number of charges they’re pursuing against 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 now faces 19 counts each of tampering and illegally obtaining a controlled substance, down from 21 charges each handed up in a grand jury indictment last month.
U.S. attorney spokesman Jeff Dorschner says the reduction in a revised indictment released Friday comes as details emerge about patients who have tested positive for the incurable, sometimes fatal liver disease.
Prosecutors have linked 35 hepatitis C cases in patients at two Colorado hospitals to Parker, but say they’ll focus on 19 cases they believe will be easiest to prove at trial.
“The prosecutors decided to refine the indictments and focus on the cases that have the strongest evidence,” Dorschner said.
A message left for Gregory Graf, Parker’s attorney, was not immediately returned.
Sixteeen of the patients in the latest indictment are alleged to have contracted the disease after having surgery at Rose Medical Center in Denver, while one had surgery at Audubon Surgery Center in Colorado Springs.
During a police interview videotaped June 30, the 26-year-old Parker told a detective that she kept dirty saline-filled syringes in her pocket and watched for opportunities when doctors and nurses left the room. She then allegedly stole syringes filled with Fentanyl from operating carts and replaced them with the used syringes.
Parker came under suspicion while at Rose after an incident March 23 when a needle in her scrub-top pocket pricked a co-worker while the two talked in a hallway. She passed a drug test after that incident but then was placed on administrative leave and later fired when she failed a drug test after she was caught in an operating room where she was not assigned on April 13. She faces charges for both incidents.
Prosecutors publicly released dates and places of the alleged offenses, but declined to released additional information. Parker’s attorneys have access to details, including patient medical records and other private information that is not available to the public.
Investigators believe up to 6,000 patients in Colorado may have been exposed by the dirty needles and contaminated saline.
Investigations are also under way at hospitals in New York and Texas, where Parker also worked. No likely cases have been reported in those other states.
Fentanyl is a narcotic painkiller 80 to 100 time stronger than morphine.
