Former Marine Suing Anesthesiologist After Contracting Hepatitis C
DENVER (CBS4) - A man who contracted hepatitis C in the Kristen Parker case is suing his anesthesiologist.
The man from Highlands Ranch, Joshua Kraft, says if the doctor had kept the drugs locked up, Parker wouldn't have been able to steal them.
Parker was an operating room technician in Denver at the time. She contaminated syringes that spread the hepatitis C.
Kraft, a former Marine, is one of the victims. After contracting hepatitis C he had to undergo 48 weeks of stomach injections and pills.
"It's definitely not easy and it's definitely not fun and I wouldn't want anyone else to have go through with this as well," Kraft said.
He had entered Rose Medical Center to have a tumor removed but it's believed Parker replaced a syringe of the drug fentanyl with a dirty needle and saline solution.
"I guess I was kind of surprised there was a drug addict loose in the operating room," Kraft said.
He is now suing the anesthesiologist on his operation, Dr. Sherry Gorman. The suit claims Gorman left the fentanyl unsecured and unlocked where Parker was able to steal it.
"They do have rules and regulations to contain the drugs. The lockbox isn't just there for show. The lockbox is there to lock the drugs up until the doctor uses it," Kraft said.
The anesthesiologist in his case said in a court document that she would cover the syringe with something in a drawer "so that it would not be visible if the drawer were opened."
Memos to anesthesiologists at Rose Hospital in 2001 and again in 2009 warn "never leave controlled substances unlocked or unattended."
"Unfortunately at Rose Medical Center in 2009 it was more of a widespread process that anesthesiologists were ignoring this patient safety rule in the operating room and playing Russian roulette with their patients' safety," Kraft's attorney Hollynd Hoskins said.
Rose Medical Center was also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. It settled with the plaintiffs and had no comment
