News & Notes

Police Search for Ambulance Escapee in Meth Case

· Associated Press

· 2008 Nov 18

WINONA, Minn. -- Police are searching for a man who allegedly escaped from an ambulance in Winona.

The man was found unconscious Saturday in a car full of chemicals that could be used to make methamphetamine.

Police say Tuesday that he is still on the run. Deputy Chief Paul Bostrack says narcotics investigators are following leads in the case.

Bostrack says the ambulance picked up the man Saturday afternoon, but the man got out of the ambulance and took off while it was stopped at a red light.

A professional cleanup crew from Chicago was called in to take care of the hazardous materials found in the car, which was parked at Daniels Ace Hardware in Winona.

The man's name hasn't been released.

 

 

Mom Charged in Criminal Neglect

Paramedics find paralyzed son in need of care

· Matthew Walberg

· Chicago Tribune

· 2008 Nov 18

CHICAGO -- When paramedics entered the third-floor South Side apartment, what they found shocked even a veteran of the Chicago Fire Department.

In the bedroom, a 29-year-old man, paralyzed from a gunshot wound, was essentially rotting to death in his bed.

"There were maggots and flies all over his body," Assistant State's Atty. Scaduto said Monday in criminal court. "Some of the bedsores were so deep that his bone was exposed. A Chicago Fire Department captain who responded [to the apartment] said it was the worst case of neglect he'd seen in 25 years."

His mother, Jameszenia Balentine, 49, was arrested over the weekend at her home on criminal neglect charges. In court Monday, Cook County Circuit Judge Laura Sullivan ordered her held in lieu of $150,000 bail.

Her son was lying in his own filth and "his legs were fused together and his feet were fused to the bed because he had not been moved in so long," Scaduto said. He also suffered from bedsores and skin ulcers and was dehydrated and undernourished, the prosecutor said.

According to authorities and sources familiar with the case, Balentine was responsible for caring for her son and collected his Social Security disability payments.

It is unclear why paramedics went to the apartment on Oct. 24, but a copy of the arrest report noted that they noticed a foul odor coming from the apartment.

On Monday, neighbors in the run-down brick three-flat where the victim and his mother lived were reluctant to talk. One woman said she recalled a foul odor in the building on only one occasion.

The victim was taken to St. Bernard Hospital in serious condition and was released to a long-term facility five days later, said hospital spokesman Darryl Nash.

Authorities did not describe why Balentine was charged nearly four weeks after her son was discovered.

 

 

Mystery Material Closes School

Six people in Littleton go to the hospital after the white powder is found

· Howard Pankratz

· The Denver Post

· 2008 Nov 12

LITTLETON, Colo. -- An ill student and the subsequent discovery of a white powder in his locker Monday morning prompted Littleton fire officials to order the evacuation of Heritage High School.

Jay Ruoff, a division chief for the Littleton Fire Department, said officials have no idea what the substance is despite an initial field test.

The test was "inconclusive" and the powder is being sent to a laboratory for further testing, said Ruoff.

He said six people were taken to a local hospital as a "precautionary measure."

The six were two school employees and four students.

The white powder was found in a gym bag, said the division chief.

Diane Leiker, spokeswoman for the Littleton School District, said the Littleton Fire Department was notified by school authorities of a problem about 1:20 p.m.

"Early this afternoon, a student was exhibiting what appeared to be signs of intoxication and was taken to a hospital," said Leiker.

She said that initially, paramedics were called to help the student. Hazardous materials crews were called when faculty members went to the student's locker and saw the white powdery substance.

"They didn't know what it was," said Leiker.

As a result, the school was shut down 40 minutes early, and all 1,550 students were sent home.

Five other students who have lockers in proximity to the ill student's locker were checked, she said.

Ruoff said the two school employees who were sent to the hospital had complained of itching and burning eyes. They were decontaminated.

The school was evacuated about 1:45 p.m. after the students were notified over the PA system, said Leiker.

All practices and events also were canceled Monday.

Ruoff said the public-school system sent a cleanup crew into the school Monday evening.

 

 

Paramedic Fired Over Certification

State officials say a veteran Denver Health employee faked documents in an effort to show he had been recertified.

· Christopher N. Osher

· The Denver Post

· 2008 Nov 11

DENVER -- A veteran paramedic was fired by Denver Health Medical Center last month because he falsified documents to show he had been recertified, state officials say.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has referred the case of Robert Loop, a 13-year veteran of the paramedics division, to the state attorney general's office for further investigation.

Loop submitted documents showing he had been recertified in March, but a training coordinator at Denver Health noticed something awry when he checked the certification document against a state database, said Randy Kuykendall, chief of the state's Emergency Medical and Trauma Services Section. The database showed that Loop's certification had expired, Kuykendall said.

Loop was responsible for planning for the Democratic National Convention during the time he was uncertified, Kuykendall said. His firing was first reported online Friday by the weekly newspaper Westword.

The state public-health department sent a letter Sept. 16 alerting Denver Health that the matter was under investigation. Three days later, Denver Health's chief paramedic, Mike Nugent, reassigned Loop to a dispatch position, which did not require the certification. Loop was fired Oct. 29.

"I agreed to let him voluntarily demote into dispatch, which was a significant pay cut for him, and let him stay there until the final investigation was completed," said Nugent, who had worked with Loop for nearly 15 years.

Loop did not return telephone messages seeking comment.

Kuykendall said Loop's alleged forgery isn't the only case involving lack of certification.

Todd Teel worked for American Medical Response in Denver without proper training or certification. About a week ago, he turned himself over to police. He had been charged by the state's attorney general's office with forgery, criminal impersonation and practicing medicine without a license.

Nugent resigned from Denver Health on Oct. 8 to take a position as the manager of transportation safety at the Colorado Department of Transportation. Dee Martinez, a spokeswoman at Denver Health, said Nugent's resignation was unrelated to his handling of Loop.

"He simply had an offer he could not refuse," she said.

"We would never knowingly allow any uncertified paramedics or uncertified health professionals to care for patients," Martinez added.

 

 

Music Headphones Can Interfere with Heart Devices

· Marilynn Marchione

· Associated Press

· 2008 Nov 10

NEW ORLEANS -- Have a pacemaker or an implanted defibrillator? Don't keep your iPod earbuds in your shirt pocket or draped around your neck—even when they're disconnected. A study finds that some headphones can interfere with heart devices if held very close to them.

They might even prevent a defibrillator from delivering a lifesaving shock, say doctors who tested them.

"Headphones contain magnets, and some of these magnets are powerful," said the study's leader, Dr. William Maisel, a cardiologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and a heart device consultant to the federal Food and Drug Administration.

"I certainly don't think people should overreact to this information," but it's smart to keep small electronics at least a few inches from implanted medical devices, and not let someone wearing headphones lean against your chest if you have one, he said.

"The headphone interaction applies whether or not the headphones are plugged in to the music player and whether or not the music player is on or off," he added.  Nearly 2 million people worldwide have pacemakers, defibrillators or other devices to help their hearts beat faster, slower or more regularly. Tests by the FDA earlier this year concluded that iPods or other music players posed no threat to these devices as long as they were used properly.

Maisel and other doctors wanted to know if the same was true of headphones. They tested eight models — earbuds and those that hook over the ear — in 60 people with heart devices.

When headphones were about an inch from the device, interference was detected nearly one-fourth of the time — in four of the 27 pacemaker patients and 10 of the 33 with defibrillators. A pacemaker reset itself in one patient.

Patients having such interference might not feel anything, or may have heart palpitations. But the interference could temporarily deactivate a defibrillator, keeping it from delivering a lifesaving shock if one were needed.

The magnet's effect falls off rapidly with distance from the device, and heart device function returns to normal as soon as the headphone is out of range.

The study did not test larger or noise-canceling headphones. The size of the headphone doesn't necessarily relate to magnetic strength; small, portable ones typically use neodymium, which is one of the most powerful and concentrated magnetic substances, Maisel said.

A separate study presented at the heart conference found no danger to heart devices from cell phones equipped with Bluetooth wireless technology.

Cell phones, anti-theft security devices and a host of other electronics have sparked fears in the past, but studies generally find no danger to heart devices with ordinary, prudent use, said Dr. Douglas Zipes, past president of the American College of Cardiology and professor of cardiology at Indiana University.

"Reassurance to the public is what's warranted. I still get questions, what about my microwave?" he said.

Dr. Kenneth Ellenbogen, a heart device expert at Virginia Commonwealth University and a spokesman for the heart association, said the solution is simple: "Keep your headphones on your ears and when they're not on your ears, you shouldn't put them over your chest or your pacemaker."

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