15 hepatitis infections tied to exnurse
Fri, 21 Mar 2008 08:35:45 GMTBy ALICIA A. CALDWELL, Associated Press Writer
EL PASO, Texas - At least 15 military service members or their relatives are believed to have been infected with hepatitis by a nurse suspected of stealing their painkillers during surgery.
The nurse, retired Army captain Jon Dale Jones, was arrested this month in Miami on federal charges of assaulting three of those patients and possession of a controlled substance by fraud.
Federal prosecutors said they believe Jones spread the disease in 2004 during surgeries at an El Paso military hospital by diverting fentanyl — a powerful painkiller often used for anesthesia — from patients to himself.
The outbreak — and the nearly three-year-long criminal investigation that followed — apparently did not prevent Jones from continuing to work as nurse in Texas and at least two other states and Washington, D.C.
Jones, 45, has pleaded not guilty and was released on bond.
"We are confident that when everything comes out in court, he will be exonerated and acquitted," said Jim Darnell, the nurse's lawyer.
Details surrounding the case remain sketchy. It's not clear how Jones allegedly transmitted the potentially deadly disease to his patients or obtained the drugs they were supposed to have received during surgery. Jones has denied using dirty needles.
Court records show the alleged victims include the son of a former Fort Bliss commanding general, an active-duty soldier, the wife of a retired Marine Corps gunnery sergeant and a retired Army chief warrant officer.
Staff Sgt. Ivan James Westrick, 33, of El Paso, was one of those allegedly infected with hepatitis C after a grenade blast claimed his left hand, lower arm and part of his right hand.
Michael Volk, an attorney representing Westrick and seven other infected patients, has filed lawsuits against Jones and the nursing agency that employed him at the Army hospital, claiming the infections caused irreparable harm and forced them to undergo extensive and aggressive medical treatments.
Volk declined to discuss the cases with The Associated Press and rejected requests for interviews with his clients following a federal judge's decision to put those lawsuits on hold pending the outcome of the criminal case against Jones.
Hepatitis C is a a blood-borne disease that can lead to cirrhosis of the liver or liver cancer. It is treatable, but there is no cure. Symptoms vary but can include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, pain and jaundice.
Court records show Jones tested positive for hepatitis C after the outbreak was discovered in October 2004. He was taken off the surgery unit but continued to work elsewhere at William Beaumont Army Medical Center as a civilian contract employee until June 2005. Army officials, who declined to comment on the details of the case, have said it's not clear whether he quit or was fired.
Paul Bracken, an El Paso lawyer representing Columbia Health Care, one of two contract companies Jones worked for at the Army hospital, declined to comment on the criminal and civil cases.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention linked Jones to the outbreak about a month after he left, saying he and infected patients shared the same strain of hepatitis C, according to court records. The FBI launched its own investigation a short time later.
Jones then moved to Washington, D.C., where he was a nurse at Georgetown University in August 2005, remaining there until he was fired in late 2006, according to Marianne Worley, a Georgetown spokeswoman. She declined to say why he was fired, but said the hospital is cooperating with investigators.
Jones next turned up in Florida, where last year he opened his own anesthesiology business, Jones Anesthesia, LLC. He was living there when he was indicted on Feb. 27 by a federal grand jury in El Paso on the assault and drug charges.
It remains unclear how much, if anything, agencies that license nurses in states where Jones has worked were told about the CDC and FBI investigations.
The Texas Department of State Health Services was notified that Jones tested positive for hepatitis C and it, in turn, alerted the Texas Board of Nurses.
It does not appear, however, that disciplinary action was taken against Jones, and his nursing license remained intact until he moved to Virginia. There also was no record of complaints or discipline in other states.
El Paso FBI Special Agent in Charge David Cuthbertson said CDC and Texas health officials were aware of the outbreak before the criminal investigation began. It was up to them to decide if others needed to be told about Jones or a possible public health risk, he said.
Experts said it is difficult to prevent a nurse, doctor or other health professional under investigation in one state from moving to and practicing in another.
Most state health agencies will not share complaint information with other states before investigating the allegations internally, said Dr. John Schufeldt, a Phoenix emergency room physician and lawyer who handles malpractice cases.
"It would not be the first time and it probably won't be the last," Schufeldt said of health care workers who move while under scrutiny elsewhere. "But it eventually catches up to them."
___
On the Net:
Medical Center: http://www.wbamc.amedd.army.mil
Asylums renaming insults advocates
Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:21:50 GMTBy VICKI SMITH, Associated Press Writer
WESTON, W.Va. - It's an intriguing and provocative name that translates to Web hits, phone calls and tour tickets: the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.
To some, the title acknowledges history by readopting one of the many names previously held by the long-vacant, 19th century mental institution known most recently as Weston Hospital.
But others say the new owners of the massive Gothic Revival hospital have gone too far, disparaging the suffering of former patients and reopening wounds with planned events like "Psyco Path" dirt bike races on the grounds.
They say words like "lunatic" and "retarded" have gone the way of "colored" and "Negro" and should never be resurrected.
"It's like turning back the clock to a time we don't want to go back to," said Ann McDaniel, executive director of the Statewide Independent Living Council, one of several mental health advocacy groups to object. "I think they could still do what they want to do without being offensive."
Scott Miller, director of Mountain State Direct Action Center, said one former patient burst into tears after seeing the name on a sign.
"It's not just that I'm a liberal and I think it's not a good idea; it's seeing people physically hurt," he said. "That's about all I needed to know."
Rebecca Jordan, whose family owns the 307-acre complex, sees things differently.
"This part of history is vital, and you cannot bury what you don't like," she said. "Should we take down the Holocaust museum? Should we completely deny all that happened because it's not favorable? Because it might hurt a few feelings?"
The daily tours that began last week — which cost $10 to $30, depending on duration — focus on issues such as the evolution of mental health care, the Civil War, the Great Depression, even architecture.
"Not one person who has gone through this place and taken the tour has said that one thing was offensive," Jordan said. "It's not a freak show."
The hospital is one of the world's largest hand-cut sandstone structures, a National Historic Landmark that once housed more than 2,000 patients but has stood largely silent since 1994.
After struggling to find a suitable, sustainable use, the state sold it at auction last summer for $1.5 million to Jordan's father, Joe, an asbestos demolition contractor from Morgantown.
The Jordans plan events on the grounds year-round: "mud bog" races, in which trucks try to speed through a pit without getting stuck; a reunion of former employees; "Hospital of Horrors" haunting tours in October; and a "Nightmare Before Christmas" tour on Dec. 23.
But their approach to marketing "cheapens and denigrates the whole field of psychology," argued Jerry Kirkpatrick, an international business and marketing professor at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
"They are sending mixed signals about the nature of the product they are selling. Are they selling history? Or dirt bike races and Halloween nights?" he said. "Sooner or later, one of these themes will have to move to the forefront and the other will fall to the side."
Kirkpatrick said serious treatment of the institution might mean putting recreational opportunities into a separate business and preserving the hospital as "a proper memorial."
"I can't imagine a long life for the present operation," he added, "unless they have a lot of money to throw at it."
It appears the Jordans don't.
With renovations projected to cost tens of millions of dollars, "it's going to be 50 years before we see revenue on this property," Rebecca Jordan said. "But this county is going to benefit in the next month because of the business we're going to bring in."
That's why Glenn Brown Jr., who lives within a stone's throw, is happy about the change.
"We don't want to see it deteriorate. We want to see it grow," said Brown, environmental services director for the hospital for 26 years. "I see something in the future. Before, I'd look at it and say, `Nah. It's going to sit there and just rot to the ground.'"
Historian Joy Gilchrist-Stalnaker has worked for nearly a decade to save the building where three of her ancestors died. She said the new name serves as a reminder of a past no one should forget.
The genealogy society she founded, Hackers Creek Pioneer Descendants, worked for six years in the Weston Colored School, another National Historic Landmark.
"There were those people who were upset with us because we used the name. But that was the name, and the community was proud of it," Gilchrist-Stalnaker said. "It was part of them."
The Jordans, she says, "are trying to treat things with respect."
They plan to post the property on eBay for a second time — but only to drum up investment.
"It was never for sale. It's still not for sale. This building will be in this family," Rebecca Jordan said. "We're not going anywhere. You can't run us out this easily."
___
On the Web:
Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum: http://www.trans-alleghenylunaticasylum.com
Statewide Independent Living Council: http://www.wvsilc.org
Hackers Creek Pioneer Descendants: http://www.hackerscreek.com
