The former Swedish Medical Center employee facing federal drug theft charges for allegedly stealing syringes with liquid painkillers from the hospital carries HIV, federal prosecutors revealed Wednesday.
Rocky Allen, who agreed to release results of his blood testing, was found to be negative for Hepatitis B and C.
So far, no reported transmissions of HIV or hepatitis B or C have surfaced, the U.S. attorney’s office in Colorado said in a statement. Authorities earlier said Allen carried a bloodborne pathogen, but until Wednesday they had not said which one.
The revelation that Allen carries HIV, subtype b, surfaced on the same day that public health officials announced they had found Swedish, the Englewood hospital that fired Allen in January, deficient for drug auditing procedures as well as infection control and surgical services.
The hospital said it had come up with a plan that corrected issues identified in an April report from the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment. The investigation was prompted by the disclosure of Allen’s arrest on federal drug theft charges.
“The items cited were not directly related to this case,” said Nicole Williams, a spokesman for Swedish. “Upon re-survey, the Health Facilities and Emergency Medical Services Division found Swedish Medical Center to have zero deficiencies.”
Allen worked at Swedish as a surgical technician from August 2015 to January 2016. Swedish reached out to about 3,000 patients who might have been affected by his actions to offer free testing for bloodborne pathogens. Prosecutors said about 2,500 of the patients were tested but that about 500 of those did not participate in recommended follow-up testing. That means there was no testing or incomplete testing for approximately 1,000 patients. Officials encourage those potentially affected patients to take advantage of the free testing still being offered by Swedish.
