Judge Rejects Plea Deal for Hepatitis-C Hospital Tech
A federal judge has rejected a plea agreement which would have sent a drug-addicted surgery technician to prison for 20 years for stealing pain killing syringes and spreading hepatitis C to dozens of former patients.
The unusual move by the judge involved the fate of Kristen Diane Parker, who pleaded guilty last year to stealing pain killers then reusing the dirty needles on patients at numerous hospitals where she worked, according to an Associated Press report.
Parker admitted stealing syringes filled with painkillers from operating room carts at Rose Medical Center in Denver and the Audobon Surgery Center in Colorado Springs and returning the used syringes filled with a sterile saline solution to the carts for later use in patients. Officials have said at least three dozen patients who underwent surgeries at the medical centers during Parker’s time there contracted the serious liver disease.
Parker worked at the medical centers from October 21, 2008 until July 6, 2009, officials said. She previously had worked at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, New York and Christus St. John Hospital near Houston.
In exchange for pleading guilty, Parker was to receive a reduced prison sentence from federal prosecutors. Such plea bargains are not unusual in cases where defendants agree to plead guilty at an early stage of the proceedings, therefore eliminating the need for a trial and other court expenses.
But U.S. District Judge Robert E. Blackburn said Friday he would not accept the 20-year plea agreement reached between Parker and federal prosecutors because the deal “unreasonably” restricted his sentencing power and didn’t take into consideration the positions of Parker’s victims. Another court date has not been set, the AP reports.
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