Colorado hospital sued over exposure to disease from ex-surgical technician.

A Colorado hospital has been sued by three former surgery patients who say they were among nearly 3,000 people possibly exposed to a blood-borne disease carried by a drug-addicted former medical technician, court records showed on Tuesday. The Swedish Medical Center in suburban Denver is accused of negligence in its hiring and supervision of a surgical technologist who was caught trying to switch a syringe containing the powerful opiate fentanyl citrate with another substance during a patient’s surgery in January. The technician, Rocky Allen, 28, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Denver last month on one count of tampering with a consumer product and one count of obtaining a controlled substance by deceit, both felonies. The civil complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Denver, said federal authorities in the criminal case testified at a criminal hearing last month that Allen is a carrier of an unspecified “blood-borne pathogen.” The incident prompted the hospital to notify some 2,900 patients who underwent surgery at the facility from August 2015 to January 2016 during Allen’s employment to be screened for HIV, and hepatitis B and C. The three patients suing underwent surgery during that time frame and are seeking monetary damages for emotional distress. Read more at http://newsdaily.com/2016/03/colorado-hospital-sued-over-exposure-to-disease-from-ex-surgical-tech/#t1FagQ3xblyXSisC.99