Helen H. Moore's Blog, page 761
June 2, 2016
Greece: rescue under way for migrant boat south of Crete
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities say a rescue operation is underway for a “significant number” of migrants on board a boat in the Mediterranean south of Crete, and about 250 people have been rescued so far.
The coast guard said the boat, carrying an undetermined number of people, was located Friday about 75 nautical miles south of Crete in international waters. Four nearby ships were participating in the rescue operation, while two Greek patrol boats and two helicopters were on their way.
Further details were not immediately available. The short crossing from the Turkish coast to Greek islands was the preferred route for migrants heading to Europe until Balkan countries closed their borders. The number of people attempting to head to Europe from the north African coast has since increased.
America’s real terror threat: Domestic extremists pose a greater danger than ISIS ever will
Ammon Bundy (Credit: AP/Rick Bowmer)
Take America back from those who have stolen it.
Protect America from those who want to destroy it.
Restore the principles that these usurpers betrayed.
These are the messages that have defined the GOP presidential race. They have been used for the past eight years to justify obstruction of the Obama administration, and are now being used to paint the democratic candidates as dangerous. In the late stages of the GOP primary as the rhetoric became increasingly xenophobic, they were applied to increasingly broad swaths of the American population as well.
Years of constant repetition by members of the GOP have given them an appearance of legitimacy, now strengthened by Donald Trump’s victory in the GOP primary contest and the party’s growing embrace of him as their standard-bearer.
Unfortunately, the Republican Party isn’t alone in using these messages.
Right-wing extremist groups use them as well, and to very specific ends: to define the conditions under which antigovernment violence becomes legitimate in their worldview.
I have spent nearly 15 years studying how the risk of violence grows within societies around the world, and running programs designed to stem the tide. I have seen rhetoric like this used to mobilize violence in countries like Iraq and Kenya.
This same dynamic, I argue, is taking shape within American society now. If it continues, it represents a greater threat than anything we face from terrorist groups outside our own borders.
Turning a blind eye
Fear and anger make for strong motivation.
The GOP has spent many years mobilizing both (sometimes tacitly and sometimes actively), in the form of anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, racist and antigovernment sentiment. This strategy has secured them votes from the white, Christian, male and ideologically extreme demographic needed to offset the party’s growing distance from an increasingly diverse and progressive American society.
This has typically been done in code, a practice that’s come to be known as “dog whistle politics” – but this election has brought it into the open.
Few have emerged unscathed. For months, Republican candidates traded shots claiming that each other, liberals, immigrants and Black Lives Matter protesters – to name a few – are to blame for the picture they’ve painted of a degraded America that’s fallen into hostile hands.
Even the GOP itself has fallen into the cross-hairs. The divide between party leadership and the population it claims to represent is growing, and becoming septic. Trump has built his candidacy on the idea that America is sick, broken and misled, and “making it great again” depends on taking it back and cutting out the cancer.
His campaign rhetoric has a common thread with that of extremists. It emphasizes betrayal and theft. It tells Americans that things are bad because of it, and then points a finger and places blame.
The patriot paradox
Every violent group in history describes its own violence as the legitimate response to a threat that was forced on them. Groups survive in the long term when that description makes sense to enough of the population to buy them tolerance and safe space to operate, plan and grow. That’s true of terrorism and violent extremism – but because protesters and supporters alike view each other as enemies of the state and therefore legitimate targets, it also helps to explain the growing physical violence at Trump rallies. It should also provide a warning for what that as-yet-limited violence could grow into.
For examples, look at the websites of American extremist groups. Their reasoning usually orbits around the belief that they are defending the Constitution, stopping the theft of the political process from the people of the United States and resisting takeover by hostile powers. As such, they don’t consider themselves extremist at all, but defenders against it. It’s the same language we saw in 2014 at the Bundy Ranch standoff, and again in 2015 at the Malheur occupation.
The names these groups take – “Patriot Movement,” “Freemen,” “Sovereign Citizens“ – serve to legitimize them in American eyes, drawing on the narrative that true Americans are not only able – but expected – to throw off oppression themselves. Typically, each group insists it’s not violent – unless pushed, and then of course it stands ready to respond in kind.
Here, of course, is the rub. The constantly repeated themes of theft and betrayal from the GOP suggest to the patriot militias and to supporters who feel angry and alienated that the push has already happened. Trump has on many occasions claimed that America is “lost” to the American people. Given his hostility against immigrants and Black Lives Matter protesters and short-lived nomination of a white nationalist as a delegate in California, it seems clear he means white Americans. The “birther” argument, which Trump supported and other GOP officials failed to reject, at its heart is an argument that President Obama is the foreign agent that the patriot movement feared. Ted Cruz often repeated this idea that the nation is under threat of destruction and that the Obama government is law-breaking and unconstitutional.
We’ve seen the message from across the GOP that Hillary Clinton is in thrall of elite interests that stand opposed to those of everyday Americans. As for Sanders’ self-embraced “socialist” label, it has stood in for alien since before the Cold War.
Recent years and the 2016 race aren’t the first time we’ve heard this kind of language from Americans within the patriot movement.
The following words were spoken by Timothy McVeigh, in an interview explaining why he destroyed the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City.
Those who betray or subvert the Constitution are guilty of sedition and/or treason, are domestic enemies and should and will be punished accordingly. It also stands to reason that anyone who sympathizes with the enemy or gives aid or comfort to said enemy is likewise guilty. I have sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and I will.
David Lane, white supremacist, founder of The Order and convicted murderer, phrased the rationale for his violence thus:
cover-ups in the Kennedy assassination and the Vietnam affair made it apparent that powers alien to America’s claimed role were running things.
We could rewrite Lane’s and McVeigh’s words alike using Trump’s birther argument or Ted Cruz’s accusation of elites without significantly changing the meaning. Indeed, although the United States remains fixed on foreign groups such as ISIS and al-Qaida when it defines terrorism, domestic violence already poses an equal or even greater threat. The foreign groups can certainly kill, but they have no power to divide our society; that additional and deeper threat is only our own.
The threat from inside
Consider this: individual acts of violence linked to racism and extremist politics are on the increase. The Washington Post reported in February 2015 that the number of Muslims killed in hate crimes is, on average, five times higher post-9/11 than before the attacks. Politics is increasingly divisive, and anger is the defining characteristic of American society.
The blame for these rifts and the likely consequences neither begin nor end with Donald Trump. He simply used an existing trend for his own gain. His praise of violence and embrace of racism and political extremism, however, goes past even what the GOP has already made commonplace.
Mainstream GOP rebuttals were too little too late. Paul Ryan rebuked Trump’s belated disavowal of David Duke, but the act rang hollow because the Washington Post that some of Cruz’s advisers were radically anti-Muslim conspiracy theorists. Meanwhile, Pamela Geller, Ann Coulter, Michael Savage, Glenn Beck and a host of other conservative commentators continue pandering to fear, prejudice, theft and betrayal unchallenged.
In an age defined by the fear of terrorism, “taking America back from people who betrayed her security” has real power at the polls, as Trump can attest. But this strategy for winning elections isn’t just divisive. It’s creating a risk of violence that has already outgrown the threat it’s supposed to be a shield against.
Trump’s emergence as the GOP candidate has added fuel to the fire, especially while the GOP dithers over whether or not to embrace him and his message. Trump himself is unlikely to stop or be convinced of the effect he’s really having on American security. It’s left to the GOP to decide whether American security or winning an election is more important to them.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
June 1, 2016
Parking dispute leads to arrest for Pentagon official
WASHINGTON (AP) — A high-level Defense Department official, in a pique over a neighborhood parking dispute, has been arrested and will do 32 hours of community service at a local food bank.
Bryan Whitman, a civilian leader in the Pentagon’s public affairs office, was charged with three counts of theft for stealing license plates off a car belonging to a neighbor’s nanny and leaving a threatening note. The charges, which came to light Wednesday, stunned Pentagon officials and co-workers, and raised questions about any additional Defense Department investigation.
In an agreement reached with the Superior Court in Washington, D.C., the charges against him will be dropped if he pays $1,000 in restitution, does the community service, stays away from the neighbors and the nanny and doesn’t get into trouble for 10 months.
According to U.S. officials, Pentagon leaders didn’t learn about the problem until they were contacted Wednesday by The Washington Post, which was first to report the arrest.
The dispute began April 4, when Whitman allegedly put a note on a car belonging to the nanny, which was parked in his neighborhood.
“I know you are misusing this visitor pass to park here daily. If you do not stop I will report it, have your car towed and the resident who provided this to you will have his privileges taken away,” the note on her white Lexus said, according to the police report.
Two days later, both of her license plates were taken. The family she works for replaced the plates and two days later the rear license plate was taken. The family then mounted a camera outside that covered the street and sidewalk, and on April 21 the rear plate was taken again, but this time they had it on video.
The Associated Press is not identifying the nanny or the family who were the apparent victims of the theft.
Terry Owens, a spokesman for the District Department of Transportation, said it’s legal for nannies or babysitters to use visitor parking passes at any time.
According to the police report, officers reviewed the video — which showed a man moving around the nanny’s car and crouched down at the rear of the vehicle — and then went to Whitman’s house in late April with a warrant. The report said that, when asked about the license plates, Whitman went to his car and retrieved them and turned them over to the police.
Whitman was charged on May 5, and on Tuesday he reached a deferred prosecution agreement with the court for the restitution and community service.
Gordon Trowbridge, the Pentagon’s deputy press secretary, said Whitman was still in his job. But he did not provide any other details because it is a personnel matter. He said he could not confirm whether there is any other Defense Department investigation into the matter, but said he is not aware of any probe by the Inspector General.
Whitman has a security clearance, and under Defense Department regulations, he is required to notify officials if he is arrested. He did not respond to a request for comment.
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Associated Press writer Ben Nuckols contributed to this report.
Campaign showcases ex-Trump U students with ties to Trump
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump’s campaign is seeking to deflect criticism of his defunct real estate seminars with testimonials from two former students who have business ties to the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
The campaign posted a web video Wednesday defending Trump University after a federal judge unsealed documents in a long-running lawsuit filed by ex-students who claim they were fleeced. The seminars ended in 2011 amid a flurry of complaints and state fraud investigations.
“The students on this video are representative of the many students who were overwhelmingly satisfied with Trump University,” the campaign said. “Rather than listen to the media spin, listen to the hard-working students who can attest first-hand to the truth about Trump University.”
The video recently filmed at Trump Tower in New York features Casey Hoban, a Connecticut bottled-water entrepreneur who said he earned “incalculable” profits on real estate deals after attending one of Trump’s two-day courses about a decade ago.
Not disclosed by the campaign is that Hoban is also a Trump family acquaintance whose protein-infused water is stocked at Trump’s golf courses, restaurants and resorts.
Hoban told The Associated Press that his business relationship with the Trump organization bloomed after he attended a charity event held last year held by a Trump family foundation. Trump’s son Eric Trump later tweeted Hoban a personal thank you for his $25,000 donation.
That largesse led to an invitation for Hoban and his family to visit Trump Tower last year for a personal tour of campaign headquarters, where they posed smiling for a photo holding Trump for President placards.
Hoban told the AP that he had only met the Trumps a couple of times and that his budding business relationship with the Trump empire had nothing to do with his offer to the campaign to issue a public endorsement of Trump University.
“Absolutely not, from the bottom of my heart,” Hoban said. “I offered to support Trump University because I did some amazing investments after going to that class. I thought it was a way to tell the world that after going to that class at Trump University I prospered.”
The campaign’s video also featured Michelle Gunn of Tennessee, who said she made back her Trump University tuition on her very first real estate deal.
“I see and hear there are former Trump University students coming out, and I have to sit back and think to myself if they were given the same education, the same opportunity, how come they didn’t have the same results?” Gunn says in the video. “I think that is because you have to take action upon yourself. You have to go out and make it happen.”
Not mentioned by the campaign is that the celebrity billionaire previously endorsed a self-help book authored by Gunn’s teenage son, titled “Schooled for Success: How I Plan to Graduate from High School a Millionaire.” A website promoting the book also features a photo of a smiling Houston Gunn posing with Trump in what appears to be the then reality TV star’s Trump Tower office.
Michelle Gunn, who is listed as a witness for the defense in a lawsuit against Trump University, previously appeared in videos praising another business seminar program and a marketing service, both unrelated to Trump’s enterprises. Gunn, who did not have a listed phone number, did not immediately respond to a message sent through her son’s website.
The campaign’s video featured a third former Trump University student, Kent Moyer, who called the seminars “outstanding.” He is a former Playboy Mansion bodyguard who founded a Beverly Hills, California-based company that specializes in providing security to the wealthy and famous.
Moyer told the AP that he does not recall ever personally meeting Trump, but said he has long admired the celebrity businessman. He said he reached out to Trump’s lawyers after reading about class-action lawsuits alleging the program was a scam posing as a real academic institution.
“I had nothing but a great experience with Trump University,” Moyer said. “Everyone knew it wasn’t a real university. … What the video doesn’t talk about is that because of Trump University I ultimately enrolled in 2007 in the Wharton Business School” — a claim regarding the prestigious business school at the University of Pennsylvania that he later clarified.
Moyer has described himself in media appearances and in written materials as an alumnus of the Wharton School, of which Trump and some of his children are graduates. Moyer clarified to the AP that he had attended two-week executive seminars offered by Wharton and had never been academically enrolled as a student at the university. He does not have a bachelor’s degree.
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Follow Michael Biesecker on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mbieseck
Obama to address Air Force grads amid uncertainty on US role
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — President Barack Obama is giving his final commencement speech to U.S. Air Force Academy graduates who are coming of age at a time of fresh global threats that seem to be pulling the U.S. back into conflicts with uncertain ends.
When he came into office in 2009, Obama pledged to end two wars and to keep America’s fighting forces out of unnecessary entanglements. In one of his first addresses to graduates, just months on the job, he told the U.S. Naval Academy that he promised to deploy the country’s diplomatic, economic and moral influence so that the military alone wouldn’t bear the burden of keeping Americans safe.
“It’s a promise that as long as I am your commander in chief, I will only send you into harm’s way when it is absolutely necessary, and with the strategy and the well-defined goals, the equipment and the support that you need to get the job done,” Obama said in Annapolis, Maryland.
His speech Thursday in Colorado Springs, Colorado, comes amid difficult questions about whether the fights the U.S. is now waging meet those criteria, nebulous as they may be.
As Obama eyes the end of his term, he’s weighing whether to once again increase the number of troops he’ll leave in Afghanistan when he leaves office. In Iraq, U.S. troop levels have gradually crept back up to help fight the Islamic State group, with special forces also dispatched to Syria and Libya. Deep concerns about Russia and China have spurred calls for the U.S. and its allies to take a more aggressive military posture in eastern Europe and Asia.
White House officials said Obama wouldn’t use his speech to make major policy pronouncements, but would instead adopt an optimistic tone about how young military members should approach the future.
“It will be an opportunity for him to talk to those graduates about the security challenges that are facing the United States and the important role that the next generation of American servicemen and women will face as they protect the country,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
Though Obama ended the formal U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan, some 9,800 troops remain there helping Afghans battle a resurgent Taliban, a reminder of how unstable the country remains fifteen years after the U.S. went to war there. White House officials have said Obama is inclined to listen to his commanders, and many military leaders are pushing to leave more than the 5,500 troops Obama earlier said would remain.
Adding to the uncertainty is the presidential election. Likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has adopted a slightly more hawkish tone than Obama. On the Republican side, Donald Trump has pledged to grow the U.S. military and intensify the military fight against IS, but has also unnerved foreign capitals with talk of the possible spread of nuclear weapons to Japan and South Korea.
For Obama, the speech is the culmination of a yearly tradition of addressing one of the military’s four service academies at graduation. This year, Obama also delivered commencement addresses at Howard University, a historically black school in Washington, and Rutgers University, a public university in New Jersey.
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Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP
Portland parents decry officials over lead in school water
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — In a city well known for its green activism, an environmental threat has bubbled up in an unexpected place: the drinking water at some public schools.
The Willamette Week newspaper reported late Tuesday that over half of the 90 school sites tested between 2010 and 2012 had elevated levels of lead in the drinking water at some locations.
The report, based on a public records request, landed during an emergency meeting already underway to discuss why the Portland Public Schools failed to disclose elevated lead levels at two schools for nearly two months — and left the taps running for days while it completed repairs.
That news, first reported by The Oregonian last week, had already galvanized parents and led to an online petition for the resignation of Superintendent Carole Smith.
Rachel Brunette’s 7-year-old daughter attends Duniway Elementary, a school listed has having elevated lead at a cafeteria dishwashing station and at drinking fountains in the Willamette Week report.
She is getting her kids tested for lead poisoning this week.
“She’s been complaining of occasional stomach aches and headaches and it’s no big deal — but then you look on WebMD and it says these are possibly symptoms of exposure to lead,” Brunette said of her eldest. “Suddenly it doesn’t seem too benign anymore.”
In March, the district arranged to test for lead at Creston K-8 School and Rose City Park School at the request of parents who were concerned about the unfolding public health crisis in Flint, Michigan.
Those tests revealed elevated levels of lead in 14 of 92 water sources at the schools, including a handful of drinking fountains, but parents were not told for weeks.
“This is not our protocol, this is not acceptable, and we’re taking a number of immediate actions,” Smith told parents Tuesday.
The district placed plastic bags over all water fountains districtwide Friday and will spend the summer testing lead levels at all schools. The last time such extensive testing was done was 2001.
The district has purchased nearly 1 million bottles of water for students through the end of the school year.
Two district employees could be placed on administrative leave as a result of the investigation, Smith said.
District spokeswoman Christine Miles did not respond Wednesday to requests for further details.
In April, Gov. Kate Brown called for a statewide review of what tools schools and districts have to test water.
She directed the Oregon Health Authority, which carries out Environmental Protection Agency water regulations at the state level, and the Oregon Department of Education to also make recommendations for improvement.
Earlier this year, a Flint-inspired nationwide review by the USA Today Network found that more than 2,000 water systems fell short of EPA rules for lead,
It also found that the EPA has handed out 180 citations to officials nationwide for failing to immediately tell the public — as was the case at the two Portland schools — when high lead levels are discovered.
Americans will hear more about lead in public school water in the months to come as nervous districts test for it, said James Montgomery, an associate professor in environmental studies at DePaul University and an expert on lead in the environment.
Many schools have aging infrastructure, making them especially vulnerable, he said.
“Once Flint hit, my prediction was, ‘This is going to ripple like a seismic wave out,’ and it has,” he said.
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AP Reporter Kristena Hansen contributed to this report.
Media groups say Duterte’s comments risk lives, urge boycott
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — International media groups have joined the condemnation of Philippine President-elect Rodrigo Duterte’s statement that many journalists have been killed in the country because they were corrupt and those who have done wrong are not exempt from assassination.
Reporters Without Borders urged the Philippine media to boycott Duterte’s news conferences until he issues a formal, public apology. The Committee to Protect Journalists says the remarks apparently excusing extrajudicial killings threaten to make the Philippines into a killing field for journalists.
Duterte told a news conference Tuesday that “just because you’re a journalist (doesn’t mean) you’re exempted from assassination if you’re a son of a bitch.”
Local media groups have widely condemned his remarks.
The International Federation of Journalists says the Philippines has been the second-deadliest country for journalists since 1990.
Insurance rates going up: New concerns for Obamacare
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fresh problems for “Obamacare”: The largest health insurer in Texas wants to raise its rates on individual policies by an average of nearly 60 percent, a new sign that President Barack Obama’s overhaul hasn’t solved the problem of price spikes.
Texas isn’t alone. Citing financial losses under the health care law, many insurers around the country are requesting bigger premium increases for 2017. That’s to account for lower-than-hoped enrollment, sicker-than-expected customers and problems with the government’s financial backstop for insurance markets.
The national picture will take weeks to fill in. With data available for about half the states, premium increases appear to be sharper, but there are also huge differences between states and among insurers. Health insurance is priced locally.
Earlier this week, North Carolina’s largest insurer said it will seek an average increase of 18.8 percent.
A recent analysis of nine states by the consulting firm Avalere Health found that average premium increases for the most popular kind of plan ranged from 5 percent in Washington state to 44 percent in Vermont.
Millions of customers will be shielded from price hikes by government subsidies, which typically cover more than 70 percent of the premiums. People who don’t have access to a workplace plan can buy a policy directly on the health law’s marketplaces.
But many consumers aren’t eligible for the income-based subsidies and get no such protection. That demographic includes small business owners, self-employed people and early retirees. Under the law, most Americans are required to have health insurance or risk being fined.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas has about 603,000 individual policyholders and, unlike other insurers in the state, offers coverage in every county. In a recent filing with federal regulators, a summary of which is available on HealthCare.gov, the company said it is seeking increases averaging from 57.3 percent to 59.4 percent across its individual market plans.
In a statement, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas said its request is based on strong financial principles, science and data. “It’s also important to understand the magnitude of the losses … experienced in the individual retail market over the past two years,” the statement said. The company says it lost $592 million last year and $416 million in 2014.
Texas is the health care law’s third-largest market, after Florida and California. Texas state regulators said the insurer’s request is confidential and they can’t comment on it. However, Insurance Department spokesman Ben Gonzalez said the state can withdraw approval if the request doesn’t meet requirements and standards in Texas law.
Wichita Falls insurance broker Kelly Fristoe said the burden of premium increases will fall hardest on rural communities where Blue Cross Blue Shield is in many cases the only option. Metropolitan areas like Houston, Dallas, and Austin attract more insurers.
“This is going to be a very big disrupter of the market,” said Fristoe. Some relatively healthy people “would probably be willing to roll the dice and take their chances” by dropping coverage, even if it means they might be fined.
The insurer cautioned that the average premiums filed with regulators don’t represent the true bottom line for individual consumers. Some people may find that even with a higher premium, the coverage remains a good value.
Regulators can request more information from the company, but the federal government can’t order Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas to roll back the increases, said Larry Levitt, an expert on the health care law at the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.
“Given how much money (the company) lost, it’s likely that a substantial rate increase is merited,” Levitt said.
The Obama administration said concerns about 2017 premiums are premature and overblown.
In a statement, the Health and Human Services Department said the Texas rate request is just the beginning of a process. Consumers in Texas and other states will have lower-premium options when sign-up season begins Nov. 1. If they don’t like what their current insurer is charging for 2017, they can switch, according to officials.
“Consumers will have the final word when they vote with their feet during open enrollment,” said the statement.
Big premium hikes from a single insurance company have had an impact on the health care debate before.
Back in early 2010, when Obama’s health care legislation appeared stalled in Congress, WellPoint’s planned 39 percent increase for some California customers galvanized the White House and its supporters to action. Obama signed the landmark legislation a few weeks later.
WellPoint is now Anthem, the nation’s second-largest insurer. In its home state of Indiana, it is currently seeking premium hikes from nearly 20 percent to 41 percent for coverage under the health care law.
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Online:
Proposed premiums — https://ratereview.healthcare.gov
Associated Press writers Jamie Stengle in Dallas and Tom Murphy in Indianapolis contributed to this report.
Thousands evacuated as floods batter Paris region
PARIS (AP) — French media say that thousands have been evacuated as floods continue to threaten homes and businesses across the Paris region.
French authorities say that areas along the Loing River, a tributary of the Seine, had seen waters rise to levels unseen since 1910, when a massive flood swamped the French capital.
Media reported of evacuations in the town of Nemours, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Paris. The iTele broadcaster said 400 firefighters and police were at work there removing people from flood-hit homes.
France’s meteorological service said Thursday that severe flood watches are in effect in two Paris-area departments: Loiret and Seine-et-Marne. Eight more departments, including three on the German, border, face flood warnings as well.
HIV-positive surgery tech has history of stealing drugs
DENVER (AP) — Prosecutors in Colorado say that a former hospital surgery technician who is accused of stealing painkiller syringes and found to be HIV positive has a history of moving from hospital to hospital and lying about his past to steal drugs.
After announcing his HIV status on Wednesday, officials urged patients who may have possibly been infected by him to be tested.
The prosecutors allege that Rocky Allen was fired from at least three hospitals in as many states, but that didn’t prevent him from landing a job in August at Swedish Medical Center in suburban Denver, where he is accused of taking a syringe of painkillers and replacing it with one containing another substance.
A class-action lawsuit filed in March on behalf of three patients who had surgery at Swedish claims hospital officials should have known about Allen’s “suspicious employment history” and his alleged drug abuse before they hired him.
“All the warning signs of what would later occur at SMC were present,” the lawsuit states.
Allen had been fired from hospitals in Arizona, California and Washington before he moved to Colorado. He also had drug problems when he served in the Navy and was court-martialed in 2011 for stealing pain medication, military records show.
According to the lawsuit, those records would have been released if Swedish requested them as part of a background check or to inquire about Allen’s military service.
It wasn’t immediately known what steps the hospitals took to investigate Allen’s past, but prosecutors say he lied about his previous drug problems when he applied for the job at Swedish.
Hospital spokeswoman Nicole Williams said Wednesday night she could not comment about the lawsuit, but “our background checks are in line with other (health care) organizations.”
Richard McCune, who is among the attorneys who filed the lawsuit, said Wednesday that he and the plaintiffs are also frustrated it took so long to find out that Allen is HIV positive — and that he first heard about it through a news story forwarded to him by a friend.
“For it to come out in a public forum, it doesn’t endear a lot of confidence in (Swedish Medical Center) handling this in an objective way,” he said.
Before Wednesday, authorities had not described Allen’s health status, and prosecutors previously only referred to him as having an undisclosed “blood-borne pathogen.” Allen had tested negative for Hepatitis B and C, a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office also said.
The fear is that Allen may have replaced the needles intended for patients with syringes he previously used, making it possible for patients to be infected. However, Allen’s public defender, Timothy O’Hara, has said that while evidence showed Allen may have switched syringes, there was no reason to believe he was re-using them.
Public health officials have said the risk of exposure to blood-borne pathogens is low, and there have been no reported cases of patients becoming infected because of Allen.
Authorities say someone saw Allen take a syringe filled with painkillers from an operating room at Swedish on Jan. 22. The hospital fired him, and three weeks later federal prosecutors charged him with tampering with a consumer product and obtaining a controlled substance by deceit.
Swedish Medical Center officials attempted to notify about 3,000 patients who underwent surgery in the hospital’s main operating room during Allen’s employment.
Dr. Larry Wolk, chief medical officer and executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said Wednesday that complete test results were not obtained for about 1,000 patients. While the department said no evidence of transmission was found in those for whom testing was completed, it could not confirm that no diseases were passed on because testing was incomplete.
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Associated Press writers Dan Elliott, Donna Bryson and Colleen Slevin contributed to this report.
