Spanish Anaesthetist Infects 275 Patients with Hepatitis C
The Times reported the conviction of Spanish Consultant Anaesthetist Juan Maeso with 275 counts of causing injuries and 4 counts of manslaughter.
Dr Maeso was a morphine addict who injected himself with morphine that was meant for patient use. The sharing of contaminated needles led to his own infection with the deadly hepatitis C virus. This was diagnosed in the 1990s. He continued to share needles with his patients, leading to 275 infections, 4 of whom died.
Hepatitis C can cause chronic hepatits, cirrhosis and liver cancer.
He was sentenced to 20 years jail for each infected patient, and ordered to pay 500,000 Euros compensation to each patient/family.
To be honest, I’m surprised he would do something so stupid! All doctors know that needle-stick injuries put us at risk of blood-borne diseases such as Hepatitis B, C and HIV. Why would he knowingly put himself at risk?
Most anaesthetists also use cannulae with injection hubs for the administration of drugs. No needles are involved at the point of patient injection. We rarely use direct injection into the vein for the sheer number of drugs involved and the number of injections that have to be done through an operation. It’s all rather strange.
But yes, Anaesthetists do seem to be a high risk group for drug abuse.
I have had a colleague who was addicted to fentanyl. We weren’t any the wiser until he decided to play with remifentanil one day. He forgot his pharmacology. Remifentanil acts very fast and causes dramatic respiratory depression, so he basically stopped breathing and collapsed.
He was found by an Eye Surgeon who saw his leg stuck out of the toilet cubicle door.
We later discovered that he was behind all the missing vials of fentanyl in theatre, and he wore long sleeves all the time to cover the needle puncture marks (not because he was cold like the rest of us!).