A hospital surgery technician, Rocky Allen was accused of stealing painkiller syringes in Colorado, possibly exposing patients to HIV, plans to plead guilty.

His lawyer filed a document in Federal Court of Denver, notifying the judge that he planned to change his plea without dealing with prosecutors. The move came after the prosecutors announced that Allen had HIV and urged surgical patients at Swedish Medical Center, where he worked, to be tested.

Authorities were worried wheather Allen have replaced fentanyl needles intended for patients with syringes he previously used, to make infections possible. This case has also led to warnings for the patients to be tested at hospitals where he previously worked in Arizona, California and Washington.

Allen's lawyer has informed that he had started abusing drugs while serving as a Navy medic in Afghanistan.  Allen's license as a surgical tech was suspended. In the days after Allen's alleged fentanyl gambit was discovered, Swedish officials scrambled to determine how many patients may have undergone surgical procedures at which Allen was present between August and January

A mass-tort-action case against HCA-Healthone, the owner of Swedish Medical Center, which employed Allen, mentioned that the hospital failed to properly check his records before appointing him — because he was court-martialed from the Army for stealing fentanyl.

By Prakriti Neogi