{"id":6371,"date":"2016-10-14T07:03:02","date_gmt":"2012-10-14T14:03:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.accessrx.com\/blog\/?p=6371"},"modified":"2012-10-14T07:03:02","modified_gmt":"2012-10-14T14:03:02","slug":"paramedic-tampers-drugs-l1014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.edrugstore.com\/blog\/current-health-news\/paramedic-tampers-drugs-l1014\/","title":{"rendered":"Paramedic Accused of Tampering with Drugs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Boston EMS believes paramedic tampered with drugs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Boston paramedic no longer has a job after being accused of tampering with patient\u2019s painkillers.<\/p>\n

The report from Boston Public Health Commission doesn\u2019t explain how the paramedic tampered with the medications, but experts have contacted 64 patients that were cared for by the paramedic. The patients were offered free medical tests including HIV and Hepatitis screenings, according to CBS News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Health officials say these tests are a precaution, stating they have no reason to believe patients were infected with any such disease.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have no evidence this paramedic has any such infections,\u201d says Dr. Anita Barry with the Boston Public Health Commission. \u201cBesides, the risk of infection is tiny in this scenario.\u201d<\/p>\n

Investigation continues<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is an investigation into this case, but officials aren\u2019t saying much about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to answer any specific questions about it,\u201d says Dr. Barbara Ferrer, Director of the Boston Public Health Commission. \u201cIt might jeopardize the criminal investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seven people who were treated by that paramedic have passed away, but officials believe the deaths were unrelated to the possible drug contamination.<\/p>\n

No charges, yet<\/strong><\/p>\n

The paramedic was fired from his job last September and, so far, isn’t facing any charges.<\/p>\n

Health officials say it took awhile to narrow down the patients that came in contact with this paramedic over a six week period last summer, plus testing of the tampered vials of drugs took some time to complete, according to a statement from Boston EMS<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The fallout continues<\/strong><\/p>\n

Boston health officials and the city\u2019s mayor commented on this case, hoping that one former employee doesn\u2019t taint public opinion of the city\u2019s ambulance service.<\/p>\n

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Public officials worry the scandal will effect public opinion of Boston EMS.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cSome people might lose confidence in a service that saves lives,\u201d says Dr. Ferrer. \u201cThat would be beyond a shame.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Boston EMS says they have put new safeguards in place to keep an incident like this from happening again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Boston paramedic no longer has a job after being accused of tampering with patient\u2019s painkillers. The report from Boston Public Health Commission doesn\u2019t explain how the paramedic tampered with the medications, but experts have contacted 64 patients that were cared for by the paramedic. The patients were offered free medical tests including HIV and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_autoblog_aioseo_focus_keyphrase":"","_autoblog_aioseo_title":"","_autoblog_aioseo_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-health-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t