ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 26, 1997 TAG: 9702260072
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WILKES-BARRE, PA.
SOURCE: Associated Press
After patients complained of excruciating pain on the operating table, a hospital suspected there was a problem with the anesthesia and sent two intravenous drug bags to the laboratory for analysis.
The mixtures, prepared by Dr. Frank Ruhl Peterson, were found to contain only trace amounts of painkillers.
The anesthesiologist, it turned out, was shortchanging the patients and diluting the medication to feed his own drug habit.
On Tuesday, Peterson, 45, was sentenced to 10 to 23 months in prison.
``You violated their trust in the system. How will any of these patients go to the hospital again?'' Common Pleas Judge Michael Conahan said.
Peterson could have received up to 54 years for assault and other offenses for his role in 12 operations at Hazleton-St. Joseph Medical Center.
Among the victims was Barbara Stasko, whose cervical biopsy in July left her in so much pain that she had to return to the hospital three days after she went home.
``Mr. Peterson has not felt the pain I face today. He's only felt the pinch,'' she said at the sentencing.
Peterson was assigned to anesthetize more than 200 patients while working at the hospital from June to August.
``When I asked him how many of his patients he shortchanged on the drugs, he said, `Everybody.' When I asked him how many patients he gave proper medications to, he said, `None,''' Detective Edward Harry said. ``When the doctors began, since the patients were under no anesthetic, they could actually feel the scalpel cutting them, and the operations had to be stopped.''
A woman undergoing spinal surgery suffered pain so severe she ``prayed for a happy death,'' court papers said.
The repeated complaints aroused suspicions, and hospital officials found that Peterson had failed to account for drugs he had signed out and had ordered more narcotics than other doctors.Peterson tested positive for Sufenta - a highly addictive narcotic - methadone and Prozac.
He was suspended from the hospital in August but used an unreturned key to sneak in and steal medications. He was arrested the following week and pleaded guilty Jan. 30 to burglary, theft, assault and obtaining illegal drugs.
In addition to what he took directly from his patients, Peterson stole $4,022 worth of narcotics from hospital shelves.
Peterson's criminal record reaches to other states. According to the judge at his arraignment, he admitted he had been arrested in Massachusetts, California, New York and Ohio for offenses ranging from drug possession to kidnapping.
He has been barred from practicing medicine in West Virginia and Ohio, and the Pennsylvania Medical Board is considering whether to bar him permanently as well. His license expired in December.
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