Stealing Drugs

[Phridae]

Fontana man suspected of stealing drugs from ambulance

(Published Sunday, May 15, 2005)


Gazette Staff

ELKHORN-A village of Fontana emergency medical technician and volunteer firefighter is suspected of stealing morphine and four other prescription drugs from an ambulance about a month ago, Assistant District Attorney Steven Madsen said Friday at a bail hearing.

Joshua M. Cole, 28, of Fontana was released on a $3,000 signature bond. Official charges are still pending.

Cole faces potential charges of possession of non-narcotic drugs without a prescription, Madsen said. Possession of morphine is a felony, Madsen said.

Madsen had not thoroughly reviewed police reports and could not say when the alleged incident occurred.

Cole has no prior criminal record and has lived in the area for 19 years, defense attorney Larry Steen said.

Fontana rescue chief Tom Westphal said Cole is still in good standing with the departments, but is currently on a leave of absence.


Josh was recently fired from our squad. And we got a new med safe. Should have put two and two together. This is crazy.

Fontana is a Intermediate squad, so they dont carry morphine. He must have taken it from us. :angry:

 

[rescuecpt]

Wow. That sucks.

 

[Phridae]

I was surprised. He was such a nice guy.

 

[Jon]

This is too common. There was a roundtable discussion about this in Jems (I think) and the end result is that there are folks who work in this field who have a DISEASE and are ADDICTED to these drugs. In pretty much EVERY state, Doctors and Nurses Boards have programs for professionals to get help. Unfourtionatly, EMS has none of that, and all we do is punish our co-workers, not get them the help they so despratly need.

Question is - did his theft impact patient well-being??? If all he did was steal spare stock, he needs help, but shouldn't loose his cert right away. If he played the "steal morphine and replace with saline" he could have impacted patient care, and shouldn't be allowed near an ambulance again.

Jon

 

[Phridae]

Originally posted by MedicStudentJon@May 16 2005, 06:16 PM
This is too common. There was a roundtable discussion about this in Jems (I think) and the end result is that there are folks who work in this field who have a DISEASE and are ADDICTED to these drugs. In pretty much EVERY state, Doctors and Nurses Boards have programs for professionals to get help. Unfourtionatly, EMS has none of that, and all we do is punish our co-workers, not get them the help they so despratly need.

Question is - did his theft impact patient well-being??? If all he did was steal spare stock, he needs help, but shouldn't loose his cert right away. If he played the "steal morphine and replace with saline" he could have impacted patient care, and shouldn't be allowed near an ambulance again.

Jon

He's a newly licensed medic too. Like, February is when everything was done with. He did all his ride time with us. I dont know if he was replacing the morphine with saline or what, but he did steal it.

I know a few years ago he had that gastic bypass surgery and he's had a lot of trouble with that. I think maybe he stole these drugs to help him deal with all the complications he's had with that. I doubt I'll ever find out for sure why he did it. I'm just diappointed and let down. He was, and still is a nice guy. He helped me a lot and knew his stuff. I just hate to see him blow everything he worked so hard for. And he did work hard. He spent days sleeping at the station he could get all his ride time and pass his class.

 

[ECC]

Originally posted by MedicStudentJon@May 16 2005, 06:16 PM
This is too common. There was a roundtable discussion about this in Jems (I think) and the end result is that there are folks who work in this field who have a DISEASE and are ADDICTED to these drugs. In pretty much EVERY state, Doctors and Nurses Boards have programs for professionals to get help. Unfourtionatly, EMS has none of that, and all we do is punish our co-workers, not get them the help they so despratly need.

Question is - did his theft impact patient well-being??? If all he did was steal spare stock, he needs help, but shouldn't loose his cert right away. If he played the "steal morphine and replace with saline" he could have impacted patient care, and shouldn't be allowed near an ambulance again.

Jon

Where I come from, if you volunteer to get help, they will help you until the end of time.

Get caught, on the other hand, you are screwed...and RIGHTFULLY SO!

Sorry, I have no tolerance for that.

 

[shorthairedpunk]

"And he did work hard. He spent days sleeping at the station he could get all his ride time and pass his class. "



---better check the saline content of your narcs---

 

[ECC]

Ask the Mighty Morphine Power Medics of Brooklyn North circa 1993-1994 what it was like getting randomly tested and questioned by Inspectional Services about 49 or so corrupted vials of Narcs...

It was not pretty.

 

[daemonicusxx]

how do you replace a narc with saline. when i use a vial, and pop that top, its done. trashed. im kinda curious, my patch would be on the line if i gave saline to a patient that needed morphine cause someone messed with my narc.

 

[ECC]

Well here's a story about some MOS (Member(s) of Service) who thought it would be a god idea to compromise narcotics prior to them being hermetically sealed by the manufacturer...you don't think they came up with that themselves?

They (meaning generic...it may have been only one person involved) heated a 22-24 ga needle and passed it through the top of the vial (not the glassine ones...vials with a stopper). It seems if you heated the needle, you could pass the tip in withdraw what you needed, and replace what you took with an inert substance and the vial would pass any integrity test.

We figured it out when the vials were lined up with one another...our perp got sloppy, and none of the vials had the same ammount of CS in them...hence the jig was up.

Cant do it anymore with the hermetically sealed ones with the procedure outlined above.

 

[shorthairedpunk]

You can remove the seal and put it back on if youre careful (with the carpujects we use). I was messin around with a training one of expired benadryl. The details are left out of how due to obvious reasons, but I learned to violate seals a long time ago when I was working on computers and had to crack the case without voiding the warranty seals.

For a note, your patch wouldnt be on the line for someone else tampering with the medication, thats beyond your ability to control, unless they used scotch tape to re seal it and you failed to notice

 

[jmcole3700]

I would like to say that I am sincerely apologetic, however, extremely furious over the conjecture posted by all of you speculative, uneducated, self-important, holier-than-thou gossip hounds.

If you all actually had the facts straight before you all went and opened your mouths regarding this situation, you would know that, first, I spent the following three weeks, voluntarily, in a psychatric hospital because, two, I knew something was radically wrong with me in order to first steal ANYTHING from my employer, but, two, use them in an attempt to take my own life. Yeah, that's right, commit suicide. Lastly, I'll have you all know now, that while in the hospital, I was diagnosed with Bipolar I Disorder with "rapid-cycler" patterns; I am now medicated and in therapy weekly to help manage this disorder, that according to three psychiatrists and four physicians was the IMMEDIATE cause of my actions. Would anyone care to retract their earlier accusations of my being a drug addict?

Finally, those of us who are educated in levels beyond the EMT-B or, as the young 19 yearold gossip puppy put it, "EMT-I" (who is actually an EMT-B)... you'll know that morphine alone won't kill someone (unless you happen to have a spare liter bag of it laying around your station. What the newspaper also failed to mention was that in a addition to 40 mg of MS, I also self-injected through IV piggyback 40 mg diazepam, 80 mg etomidate, 20 mg midazolam, and 50 mg phenergan. Oh yeah, I also washed that down with two fistfuls of clonazepam and about a twelve pack of beer. I'm pretty confident when I say that I meant business, and that I'm still here only but through the grace of God.

If anyone is still so dense as to being unable to understand how an acute manic episode brought on by undiagnosed/untreated Bipolar I disorder could cause such actions, maybe you ought to dust off your EMT/Medic textbooks and polish up on that section.
If anyone is still unsure of the TRUTHFUL circumstances surrounding this situation, please feel free to contact me @ jmcole3700@yahoo.com.

 

[Jon]

Mr. Cole,

I do applogize that I jumped to the conclustion of you needing the medications because of an addiction. Please understand that I made what I felt was a logical assumption based on the information at hand, and never considered your scenerio. Now I remember why *** is part of Assume.

In my defense, however, Drug theft by those addicted to controlled substances, and diversion for sale to addicts is a problem in this field, and there isn't a uniform solution. Too often, EMT's and Medics are punished, rather than gven the help they need, and that was my main point.

I congratulate you on getting the help you need, and hope that, if you still wish to have a career in EMS, that one will be availible to you.

Good luck,

Jon
Paramedic Student
Philadelphia, PA

 

[TTLWHKR]

Originally posted by MedicStudentJon@Sep 21 2005, 11:45 AM
Mr. Cole,

I do applogize that I jumped to the conclustion of you needing the medications because of an addiction. Please understand that I made what I felt was a logical assumption based on the information at hand, and never considered your scenerio. Now I remember why *** is part of Assume.

In my defense, however, Drug theft by those addicted to controlled substances, and diversion for sale to addicts is a problem in this field, and there isn't a uniform solution. Too often, EMT's and Medics are punished, rather than gven the help they need, and that was my main point.

I congratulate you on getting the help you need, and hope that, if you still wish to have a career in EMS, that one will be availible to you.

Good luck,

Jon
Paramedic Student
Philadelphia, PA

Don't apologize... Freedom of the Press, Freedom of Speech.

If he didn't want the world to know about it, or express their opinion; he should turn his anger toward the media who printed it.

Besides, how do you know that person is real, and not someone out to make a trouble?

 

[rescuejew]

I have 2 cents!!! (As if no one thought I would...)

Whether we all have freedom of speech or opinion, IN MY OPINION, is not the argument here. What I think the discussion has turned to now is whether we as a collective unit have a right to speculate on the actions of others without having all the facts. I admit that I have been party to it just as much as the next person in different arenas of EMS, BUT, that doesnt make it right.

With this conjecture, comes an example: My sister, who is a cop in the city neighboring mine, was pistol-whipped last year with her duty-weapon by some drugged-out crackhead. Other officers on the scene thought that she was shot in the head and she was rushed, full-tilt-boogie, to the closest hospital where she was found to have a concussion and a bad lac. She was lucky. Days later, since this event made national news, a thread appeared on a "inthelineofduty.com" about her incident and all of these cops, from all over the country, took the MEDIA at its word (DUH!!) and accused her of being less than worthy to carry her badge. My mother, myself, and several Raleigh and Durham city cops came to her defense. Thankfully, she never saw what was written about her. On top of having to regain her confidence, her position as a badass line officer and her sanity, she wouldve had to have been judged by the entire country. It isnt fair and it doesnt help. Just my opinion.

Josh: if that is you posting here...good luck to you and hope g-d grants you a speedy recovery.

GIN

 

[TTLWHKR]

I stand by my opinion. I have no empathy. And I don't believe that anyone here should apologize. If the thread creates a problem for someone, then it should be removed, or the person responsible for posting it should be the one apologizing. If the facts were not in the articles, the press should not have printed it... etc, furthermore, so-on, and we'll leave it at that.

 

[Jon]

I must agree with Gin...... As much as the press printed it, we did speculate and assume, and I stand by what I wrote..... wether or not the press should have printed what they did isn't the issue.....


Jon

 

[Ridryder911]

I applaud you for getting help. Yes, it was rushed to make total accuastions but; if you took the med.'s you took the med.s..as far as trying to kill yourself.. I am educated enough as you pointed out to know that a medic knows "cry for help" rather than suicide gestures. Medics knows how to kill themselves ( unfortunately I have know way too many that did).

Again, I wish you succcess on your therapy and success in life.

Be safe,
Ridryder 911

 

[Phridae]

Originally posted by TTLWHKR+Sep 21 2005, 01:41 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (TTLWHKR @ Sep 21 2005, 01:41 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-MedicStudentJon@Sep 21 2005, 11:45 AM
Mr. Cole,

I do applogize that I jumped to the conclustion of you needing the medications because of an addiction. Please understand that I made what I felt was a logical assumption based on the information at hand, and never considered your scenerio. Now I remember why *** is part of Assume.

In my defense, however, Drug theft by those addicted to controlled substances, and diversion for sale to addicts is a problem in this field, and there isn't a uniform solution. Too often, EMT's and Medics are punished, rather than gven the help they need, and that was my main point.

I congratulate you on getting the help you need, and hope that, if you still wish to have a career in EMS, that one will be availible to you.

Good luck,

Jon
Paramedic Student
Philadelphia, PA

Don't apologize... Freedom of the Press, Freedom of Speech.

If he didn't want the world to know about it, or express their opinion; he should turn his anger toward the media who printed it.

Besides, how do you know that person is real, and not someone out to make a trouble? [/b][/quote]
No, that was him.

 

[rescuecpt]

I like the term "gossip puppy". Hehehe...


In my opinion, if you don't want people to talk about you in a negative way, don't give them any reason to. I know that can't always be controlled, especially where psychological issues come into play, but what's in the news is all we know and once it's in the news its public domain. Any speculation based on the what was presented by the media is not only natural, but expected. To Mr. Cole, you came and said your piece. Now each member who is interested can evaluate your story vs the news and any other sources available to them to form their own opinion. Everyone of course is entitled to their own opinion, formed based on their observations and the information presented to them.