A class-action federal lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges Swedish Medical Center negligently put thousands of patients in danger by hiring a surgical technologist who the hospital now says may have exposed them to HIV, hepatitis B or hepatitis C.
In January, the Englewood hospital fired Rocky Allen, who has since been indicted on two federal counts alleging he was caught stealing a syringe filled with fentanyl from an operating room. Allen has pleaded not guilty.
Court records show that by the time Swedish hired him, Allen had been fired from four other hospitals and also had been court-martialed in 2011, when he was serving with the Navy in Afghanistan, for the theft of fentanyl. Court testimony revealed that he is carrying an undisclosed bloodborne pathogen.
“By the time Allen appeared on the doorstep of SMC in August 2015 looking for a job as a surgical technician, all the warning signs of what would later occur at SMC were present,” the lawsuit states. “Allen already had been terminated by numerous other hospitals for the exact conduct that has now exposed thousands of SMC patients at an increased risk of bloodborne pathogens.”
Officials with Swedish could not be reached for comment.
The lawsuit names three plaintiffs, Angelica Porras, Catherine Pecha and Gary Wolter, but seeks class-action status for all individuals who had surgery at Swedish between Aug. 17 and Jan. 22. The hospital has offered free blood tests to 2,900 patients.
Each of the three named plaintiffs has received negative test results for the three viruses, the lawsuit states. But all three were told that despite those test results, they remain at risk and should pursue continued blood testing, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims the hospital negligently hired Allen, negligently inflicted emotional distress and failed to properly supervise Allen after hiring him.
Named as defendants are Swedish and its parent companies, Hospital Corp. of America and HealthONE of Denver Inc. The lawsuit states that another HealthONE hospital, Rose Medical Center, had another drug-theft scandal.
In that case, Kristen Parker, a former Rose Medical surgical technician, was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2010 for swapping drug-filled syringes, intended for patients, with previously injected, non-sterile syringes. She infected at least 18 hospital patients with hepatitis C.
After that sentencing, Rose Medical released a statement that it had upgraded systems for policing medications in the operating room, the lawsuit states.
