State officials say a veteran Denver Health employee faked documents in an effort to show he had been recertified
By Christopher N. Osher
The Denver Post
DENVER — A veteran paramedic was fired by Denver Health Medical Center last month because he falsified documents to show he had been recertified, state officials say.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has referred the case of Robert Loop, a 13-year veteran of the paramedics division, to the state attorney general’s office for further investigation.
Loop submitted documents showing he had been recertified in March, but a training coordinator at Denver Health noticed something awry when he checked the certification document against a state database, said Randy Kuykendall, chief of the state’s Emergency Medical and Trauma Services Section. The database showed that Loop’s certification had expired, Kuykendall said.
Loop was responsible for planning for the Democratic National Convention during the time he was uncertified, Kuykendall said. His firing was first reported online Friday by the weekly newspaper Westword.
The state public-health department sent a letter Sept. 16 alerting Denver Health that the matter was under investigation. Three days later, Denver Health’s chief paramedic, Mike Nugent, reassigned Loop to a dispatch position, which did not require the certification. Loop was fired Oct. 29.
“I agreed to let him voluntarily demote into dispatch, which was a significant pay cut for him, and let him stay there until the final investigation was completed,” said Nugent, who had worked with Loop for nearly 15 years.
Loop did not return telephone messages seeking comment.
Kuykendall said Loop’s alleged forgery isn’t the only case involving lack of certification.
Todd Teel worked for American Medical Response in Denver without proper training or certification. About a week ago, he turned himself over to police. He had been charged by the state’s attorney general’s office with forgery, criminal impersonation and practicing medicine without a license.
Nugent resigned from Denver Health on Oct. 8 to take a position as the manager of transportation safety at the Colorado Department of Transportation. Dee Martinez, a spokeswoman at Denver Health, said Nugent’s resignation was unrelated to his handling of Loop.
“He simply had an offer he could not refuse,” she said.
“We would never knowingly allow any uncertified paramedics or uncertified health professionals to care for patients,” Martinez added.