Is Your Doctor Addicted?

Addicted docs put patients in peril
Random drug screening urged for health care workers

Had she been a pilot, or a train engineer, or even a bus driver, chances are someone would have discovered, before it was too late, the demons Kristen Parker was battling. Unfortunately for the people whose lives she would forever alter, Parker was merely a hospital worker.

The 26-year-old surgical technician was hired by Rose Medical Center, in suburban Denver, in the fall of 2008. While she was required to jump through plenty of pre-employment hoops, including a drug test, there was no random drug testing once she landed the job. Which was tragic, because if hospital officials had periodically screened Parker for drug use the way the transportation industry screens millions of its employees every year, they no doubt would have found out the truth sooner.

Despite somehow managing to pass that initial test, Kristen Parker had a drug problem. A very serious drug problem. Her addiction was so severe, in fact, that within a few days of starting her job, she began treating the drugs available in the medical center's operating rooms as her own personal stash.

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