A physician at a Seattle hospital has been charged with “diverting” fentanyl and different managed substances meant for youngsters who have been sufferers.
Andrew Voegel-Podadera, 35, was arrested at his residence final week, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration mentioned in an announcement. He was an anesthesia resident and labored at Seattle Youngsters’s Hospital, the College of Washington Medical Faculty, UW Medical Heart and Harborview Medical Heart.
Voegel-Podadera has been charged with two counts of buying a managed substance by misrepresentation, fraud, deception and subterfuge, in accordance with the DEA’s Seattle workplace.
“Diverting drugs away from toddler sufferers is despicable, doubly so if the individual concerned is a physician,” David F. Reames, particular agent in command of DEA Seattle’s Area Division, mentioned within the assertion.
A grand jury will convene to find out if there may be sufficient proof in opposition to Voegel-Podadera for the case to maneuver ahead, in accordance with the Western District of Washington U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace.
Prosecutors allege that Voegel-Podadera diverted fentanyl, remifentanil, sufentanil and hydromorphone whereas treating youngsters and adults, in accordance with a possible trigger affidavit.
Voegel-Podadera admitted in an interview with regulation enforcement that he would draw up a drugs, administer a partial quantity to the affected person after which take the remainder for private use, the affidavit alleges.
Voegel-Podadera additionally allegedly used managed substances whereas on the job, in accordance with courtroom paperwork. The criticism says an attending doctor at one of many hospitals noticed Voegel-Podadera displaying habits “in keeping with drug use,” together with unexplained delays and absences from the working room.
In December 2024, Voegel-Podadera was treating three youngsters when the attending doctor noticed him drawing an extreme quantity of fentanyl into syringes that will not be wanted for the sufferers that day, in accordance with the DEA.
Suspicious of Voegel-Podadera, Seattle Youngsters’s Hospital examined all substances returned as wastage by the physician and located a number of the waste syringes have been full of saline resolution, in accordance with the DEA and courtroom paperwork.
The hospital reported Voegel-Podadera to the DEA in January 2025.
The next month, the DEA’s investigation discovered that Voegel-Podadera allegedly diverted managed substances whereas working at different hospitals, together with the College of Washington Medical Heart and Harborview Medical Heart, going again to January 2024.
On June 12, the DEA suspended Voegel-Podadera’s capacity to prescribe substances and arrested him a week-and-a-half later.
The case underscores the continuing drug disaster that has gripped the Pacific Northwest for years.
Final yr, a former Medford nurse, Dani Marie Schofield, was accused of harming 44 sufferers within the intensive care unit of Asante Rogue Regional Medical Heart after she allegedly stole fentanyl prescribed to ease their ache and changed it with bacteria-laden faucet water.
9 sufferers who survived and the households of 9 different sufferers who died filed a $303 million lawsuit in opposition to the hospital, claiming it didn’t comply with correct security protocols and will have prevented the nurse from stealing the medication.
Schofield pleaded not responsible final yr to an indictment charging her with 44 counts of second-degree assault and is awaiting trial.
—Kimberly Cortez covers breaking information, public security and extra for The Oregonian/OregonLive. She could be reached at kcortez@oregonian.com
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