State revokes certification after he admits using stolen narcotics
By Andrew McIntosh
Sacramento Bee (California)
Copyright 2007 McClatchy Newspapers, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
The state Emergency Medical Services Authority revoked the license of a Sacramento air ambulance paramedic on Thursday after he admitted stealing powerful narcotics from his company’s drug cabinet and medicines left over from patient treatments, and injecting them hourly while on duty.
Michael Parker of Reach Air Medical Services surrendered his state paramedic’s license at EMSA headquarters. He had been accused of committing corrupt acts and misusing stolen narcotics, both misconduct charges, state records show.
Parker revealed he stole and used drugs beginning in December to self-medicate for post-traumatic stress disorder caused by a horrific air crash he had responded to a month earlier, according to EMSA Director Dr. Cesar Aristeiguieta, whose agency licenses paramedics statewide.
Parker’s revocation comes four days after The Bee published a special report highlighting a rise in substance abuse among paramedics in California that some have linked to occupational stress.
The report also revealed that the state regulator was struggling to provide adequate oversight and enforcement, often letting cases languish for weeks or even months without action.
This time, the state acted quickly; Parker had turned himself in to his employer on Jan. 26.
Parker could not be reached for comment, but Aristeiguieta said the state was able to act quickly, in part, because Parker was so cooperative.
“He came in to our office today, signed the papers and surrendered his paramedic card,” Aristeiguieta said.
Licensed as a California paramedic since 1995, Parker told EMSA investigators and his employer that beginning in early December he started using Versed, an anti-anxiety drug, followed by morphine and the ultra-powerful painkiller Fentanyl.
Aristeiguieta said officials may never determine how many vials of narcotic Parker stole.
Jennifer Hardcastle, a nurse and spokeswoman for the air ambulance company, said there have been no complaints or concerns about patient care involving Parker. Aristeiguieta agreed, adding that flight paramedics typically work as a team with a flight nurse and “the nurse really runs the show.”
Parker told investigators his woes began after he administered a dose of Versed to a patient, according to records obtained under the California Public Records Act.
Parker took home the Versed not given to the patient, put it in a glass of water and drank it. Normally, unused narcotics are to be destroyed in the presence of a fellow employee, who signs a log attesting to its disposal.
Between mid-December and Jan. 26, Parker said his addiction worsened and he started to keep morphine and Fentanyl leftovers, too. He would inject the drugs into his arm in the air ambulance station bathroom while on duty, the documents state.
Parker also started opening the company narcotics storage unit and cutting the bottoms out of boxes containing vials of drugs.
Santa Rosa-based Reach Air Medical Services has operations in Sacramento -- at Executive Airport -- as well as in Concord, Lodi, Marysville, Redding and Corvallis, Ore. Its helicopters and airplanes have performed more than 30,000 rescue flights since the company’s creation in 1987.
The Parker case marks the second time since 2001 that a Reach paramedic license was revoked for a morphine theft, but spokeswoman Hardcastle said only two employees in the 180-employee operation have stolen drugs in 20 years
“By the nature of the service Reach provides,” she said, “our employees are exposed to emotionally challenging and traumatic experiences each day.”