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NY EMS meds too ‘hot’ to administer in field

By Ginger Adams Otis
New York Post

HARLEM, NY — A piping-hot radiator placed next to a locker full of drugs in a Harlem EMS station made a state health inspector’s blood run cold last week.

The ambulance unit’s entire narcotic supply — 20 vials each of morphine, Valium and midazolam — was tossed after it was discovered that temperatures inside Station 16 had reached a steamy 92 degrees and were likely higher inside the metal locker, sources said.

The narcotics start to lose their potency — and run the risk of altering their chemical compositions — when temperatures top 86 degrees, according to the manufacturers’ guidelines.

Full Story: Heat may have altered chemical compound of meds