HonorHealth Scottsdale, Arizona — A former anesthesia technician at Shea Medical Center has been charged with poisoning the coffee of an operating room worker. CBS5 Reported on May 24th.
The incident occurred in January, according to the news station. Nelson Ramos was formally indicted in April after admitting to pouring Betacept, an antiseptic surgical scrub, into Jeffrey Maxwell’s coffee as a “prank”.
A medical device representative, Maxwell is not employed by HonorHealth, but attends surgeries to assist surgeons with the equipment they sell. He put coffee on a shelf in the hallway outside the operating room and went outside for a sip between surgeries.
“I felt a burning sensation,” Maxwell told the news station. “Then I opened the cap and smelled it, and it smelled like bleach.”
The patient was still under anesthesia, so he went to finish the operation. When the police arrived, they found surveillance footage of someone who had tampered with the drink, which they identified as Mr. Ramos.
Maxwell told News Station that he suffered stomach pains and acid reflux for two weeks after the incident.
“HonorHealth has fully cooperated with local law enforcement agencies involved in this investigation,” the medical system said. beckers in a statement. “The employee in question is no longer employed by our organization.”