Georgetown Notifies Patients Of Possible HIV
Exposure
By Deborah Mitchell
NEW YORK, Feb 24 (Reuters Health) -- Almost 300 former patients
of Georgetown University Medical Center are being notified of a
possible exposure to infections including HIV during x-ray
procedures.
This action follows the discovery that a hospital x-ray technician
may have used contaminated syringes or needles to siphon
painkillers from patients' intravenous lines, replacing the drugs with
saline solution, according to report published Thursday by The
Washington Post.
On February 2, 2000, technician Jeffery L. Royal was caught
siphoning fentanyl, a painkilling drug, from an infusion pump. He
was arrested by hospital security immediately, according to Dr.
James Welsh, associate medical director at Georgetown University
Medical Center. They subsequently turned him over to the
Washington, DC metropolitan police, who have been handling the
matter since then, he told Reuters Health.
After his arrest, Royal made a statement to the police that
"suggested the possibility that he used contaminated syringes in
some cases," Welsh explained. Therefore, "we felt it was in our
patients' best interests to take a very aggressive approach to this
and to test all patients who could have possibly come in contact
with this employee."
All 294 patients and their physicians, have been sent letters, Welsh
continued. Phone calls will also be made next week to any patients
who have not responded by then.
The 40-year-old Royal was arraigned in federal court on Tuesday on
charges of consumer product tampering, a felony with a maximum
sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to
the Post.
"The Georgetown University Medical Center believes that there is
very minimal risk of infection to any patient in this situation," Welsh
added. "We have exercised every caution and collaborated with
public health and law enforcement officials."
The employee worked at the medical center for a 5-month period of
time, from September 1999 to February 2, 2000, in a defined area
of the hospital, the interventional radiology department.
There is "absolutely no risk" to patients hospitalized before or after
these dates, or to patients who did not receive interventional
radiology procedures that included IV narcotics and sedatives,
Welsh added.
The notification and testing process is being supervised by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta and
public health officials in Washington, DC and Maryland.
Georgetown officials contacted the CDC early last week,
spokesperson Tom Skinner told Reuters Health. Since then, they
have had telephone conversations regarding the possible risks to
patients and how to best follow-up with these patients and their
physicians.
At the moment, it appears that "the risk to any one patient as an
individual is extremely low," Skinner said. The CDC will continue to
act in a consulting capacity in this matter, but has no plans for any
further involvement at this time.