“Washington’s Department of Health said Tuesday two more medical facilities in the Puget Sound region would be named later this week, and up to 700 more patients will be encouraged to test themselves as well”, the station continued.
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Health authorities informed the hospitals that Allen was arrested in Colorado for allegedly stealing syringes of the painkiller fentanyl from an operating room and replacing them with needles containing other substances, when he worked at the Swedish Medical Center in Denver from August 2015 to January 2016.
The warnings in Washington follow the recent indictment on drug theft charges of the former surgical technologist at Swedish Medical Center in Englewood.
The suspect, who investigators say is a drug addict, worked for a short time at the Northwest Hospital and Medical Center in Seattle in 2012 before he was sacked, according to KIRO-TV. About 1,500 patients are being warned to be tested for hepatitis C, hepatitis B and HIV.
The results of the tests are due in two to three weeks. He also worked at Lakewood Surgery Center and another as-of-yet unnamed facility.
Local officials did not issue an alert earlier about potential problems linked to Allen because they were notifying patients individually and the risk to the public is believed to be very low, said Dr. Jeff Duchin, health officer for Public Health – Seattle & King County.
“Despite Rocky Allen’s well-documented drug addiction and erratic and facially suspicious employment history, Defendants hired him as a surgical technician”, reads the lawsuit. But she said she had heard no evidence that he had set out to hurt others. Allen is carrying a bloodborne pathogen, according to court testimony.
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