Texas Also Investigating Link to Hepatitis C-Positive Hospital Worker

Add Texas to the growing list of states now looking into the possibility that a surgical technician who was addicted to painkillers she stole from hospitals where she worked may have exposed thousands of patients to hepatitis C.

Two weeks ago, health officials in Colorado said Kristen Diane Parker, 26, is suspected of having exposed up to 6,000 surgical patients to the infectious blood disease during her time working at hospitals in Denver and Colorado Springs. Then, just this week, New York state health officials said Parker also had worked at a hospital in Mount Kisco, where she may have exposed nearly 3,000 patients to hepatitis C before moving to Colorado.

Parker worked as a surgical scrub nurse at Rose Medical Center in Denver from Oct. 21, 2008 to April 13, 2009 and at Colorado Springs’ Audubon Surgery Center from May 4 until June 29, state health officials said.

She previously worked at Northern Westchester Hospital in New York from Oct. 8, 2007 to Feb. 28, 2008, officials said.

Texas Link Being Explored

Texas state health officials are now confirming that Parker worked at several hospitals there and have launched their own investigation into possible hepatitis C exposure. Parker reportedly worked at Christus St. John Hospital near Houston from May 2005 to October 2006, but hospital and state authorities do not yet have a number of how many patients underwent surgery there and may have been exposed to the disease while Parker worked there.

Thousands of surgical patients who were treated at the hospitals in New York, Colorado, and now Texas during Parker’s employment have been advised to have blood tests to determine whether they are positive for hepatitis C. As of today, at least 11 patients in Colorado have tested positive, but further testing is required to say for sure that they were infected by Parker, officials said.

Technician Accused of Stealing Potent Pain Drugs

Parker is accused of taking Fentanyl meant for patients, injecting them into herself, then refilling the dirty needles with saline solution to cover up her actions. Fentanyl is a narcotic painkiller that is 80 to 100 times stronger than morphine.

Because Parker has tested positive for hepatitis C, it is possible she exposed thousands of surgical patients by sharing the needles. Officials say she knowingly exposed thousands of surgical patients to the disease to feed her addiction.

She was arrested June 30 and remains jailed in Colorado awaiting trial on charges of stealing prescription drugs.

Hepatitis C is an infectious blood disease that affects the liver and can cause liver fibrosis (scarring of the liver), cirrhosis (advanced liver scarring), and in some cases, liver failure and liver cancer.

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