BOSTON — Boston health officials are tightening ambulance security and offering free screenings amid an investigation of a paramedic who allegedly tampered with and administered painkillers to dozens of patients last year.
An unidentified paramedic with Boston EMS reportedly compromised powerful painkillers with blood-borne illnesses and gave them to more than 60 people, according to the Boston Globe.
After the incident came to light, Boston EMS Chief James Hooley said the agency has implemented a “very strict” inspection schedule of ambulance medications and better medical packaging.
“We feel pretty confident we have put additional safeguards in place to prevent something like this from happening again,” he said.
Although Hooley didn’t specify what additional measures would be taken, he said that this new set of protocols will be in addition to the agency’s already “robust” security of painkillers and other controlled medications.
Officials told the Globe that they were unsure how exactly the paramedic tampered with the vials of painkillers, but they did say that the paramedic did not personally administer the drugs to all 64 people.
Dr. Anita Barry, director of the commission’s Infectious Disease Bureau, said that those at risk of infection should not worry too much — the chance of getting infected by HIV from a needle that was directly stuck into a person with the disease is only 0.3 percent and only a 1-2 percent chance with hepatitis C.
Officials said there is no reason to believe that the paramedic in question had any of blood-borne illnesses of his own.
“We’re doing this out an abundance of caution,” Boston Public Health spokesman Nick Martin told the Boston Herald. “There’s no reason to suspect that the paramedic had a blood-born disease.”
This past weekend, the city contacted 64 people that were at risk for infection, the Herald reported.
Seven of those people had died from the conditions for which they called an ambulance, not from infections.
“We have had, for the most part, a very positive response,” said Barbara Ferrer, executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission, during a press conference. “People have been glad that we did in fact notify them, and I think it’s mixed in terms of what people are worried about or whether or not people want to get tested.”