Pubdate: Mon, 14 Aug 2006
Source: Times Leader  (Wilkes-Barre, PA)
Copyright: 2006 The Times Leader
Contact:  http://www.timesleader.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/933
Author: Rory Sweeney
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

FENTANYL'S TENTACLES GROWING IN REACH

Strong Painkiller Is Linked With Local Heroin Deaths And Illegal 
Possession By Nurses

When a wave of fentanyl-related overdose deaths rolled eastward 
earlier this year, the painkiller made headlines as the newest 
pharmaceutical to hit the streets, with a deadly efficacy and a rising demand.

But the highly potent opiate has been abused for years - even here in 
Luzerne County - and that abuse hasn't been limited to the archetypical addict.

Illicit use of the analgesic in the medical profession was first 
noticed in the mid-1970s, less than two decades after its initial 
synthesis, and persists today, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement 
Administration.

Abuse in the health sector locally has existed since at least 2004, 
when a nurse was punished in response to a conviction for illegal 
possession of fentanyl. Another nurse was suspended for the same 
reason earlier this year. Neither conviction stemmed from drug thefts 
in Luzerne County.

In April, the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing suspended Theresa 
Kamus-Kelly's license for three months and ordered the Kingston woman 
to serve three years of probation.

Two years ago, the board revoked the nursing license of Drums native 
Paul A. Colasurdo for stealing fentanyl patches from his job to feed 
his fentanyl addiction.

While fentanyl abuse is "rare," DEA public information officer Bill 
Hocker said it's been a particular problem among medical professionals.

A survey published in a 2002 issue of the journal Anesthesia & 
Analgesia analyzed drug use by anesthesiologists at U.S. academic 
medical centers. The study, which reported abuse by 1 percent of 
faculty members and 1.6 percent of residents, found fentanyl was the 
favorite controlled substance.

But it wasn't until a rash of more than 400 deaths from 
fentanyl-laced heroin overdoses nationwide earlier this year that the 
public noticed the drug, which has been estimated at roughly 100 
times more potent than morphine.

The drug causes respiratory depression, leading to asphyxiation, 
according to Luzerne County Coroner Dr. Jack Consalvo.

In Luzerne County, fentanyl is indicated in at least five recent 
overdose deaths. A spate of three fentanyl-related overdose deaths in 
two months alarmed Consalvo enough in May to ask the DEA to remove 
the drug from the market.

Such a ban might limit the availability of fentanyl, which, evidenced 
by cases like those of Colasurdo and Kamus-Kelly, is easy for medical 
professionals to obtain.

The nursing board called Colasurdo's actions "a most egregious 
violation" when revoking his license in August 2004.

Colasurdo, now deceased, had pleaded guilty to, among other charges, 
three felony counts of criminal conspiracy in March 2002 in Carbon 
County and guilty to three counts of theft by unlawful taking and 
defiant trespass in April 2003 in Schuylkill County.

Working at a nursing home, he would support his addiction to fentanyl 
by removing fentanyl Duragesic patches from elderly chronic-pain 
sufferers and inject the liquid from the patch, Colasurdo admitted to 
the nursing board. He also said he would go to the home when he 
wasn't working to steal patches.

He said his addiction began at age 17, after a doctor prescribed him 
painkillers after a car accident. At the time of the hearing in 2004, 
he claimed he went to counseling and attended Narcotics Anonymous 
meetings several times a week, a claim substantiated by his mother, Janice.

His family confirmed Aug. 4 that he died in October at age 24 of a 
drug overdose, but declined further comment for this story.

In the more recent case, Kamus-Kelly pleaded guilty in Lehigh County 
to possession of a controlled substance and acquisition of it by 
fraud after supervisors found a small vial of fentanyl in her locker 
at the Lehigh Valley Hospital. The guilty plea last October triggered 
an automatic suspension of her nursing license in January.

Kamus-Kelly said she didn't use fentanyl, but admitted to police she 
obtained it by faking hospital records. She later told the nursing 
board she had become addicted to Vicodin, a moderately potent opiate 
she used by prescription to handle pain after two neck surgeries.

She did not return multiple calls for comment.

In April, she accepted a consent agreement with the nursing board of 
a three-month license suspension and three years of probation thereafter.

Kamus-Kelly told the board that after being confronted at the 
hospital, she attempted to enter voluntary recovery programs twice 
and wasn't admitted, but successfully completed a treatment program 
at the Marworth chemical dependency center in Waverly.

In August 2005, after disclosing her addiction problems and the 
resulting criminal charges, she landed a registered nurse anesthetist 
job at the Berwick Hospital Center. She received random drug 
screenings under the supervision of Lawrence Reid, the medical 
director of the hospital's anesthesiology department.

But the license suspensions have kept her from working since January, 
even though the hospital is "willing and desirous of re-employing" 
her because she will be under supervision and is "an excellent nurse 
from the standpoint of both technical skills and compassion for her 
patients," according to a letter written by Reid to the State 
Department's prosecutor.

In June, after being told she could not work as a regular nurse until 
mid-July or a registered nurse anesthetist until July 2007, 
Kamus-Kelly petitioned for a modification of the consent agreement 
that would allow her to work.

The petition was discussed at a board hearing on Friday afternoon in 
Harrisburg, according to state Department of State press secretary 
Leslie Amoros, but the board's decision was not known.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman