Pubdate: Sun, 09 Mar 2003
Source: Commercial Appeal (TN)
Copyright: 2003 The Commercial Appeal
Contact:  http://www.gomemphis.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/95
Author: Caryn Rousseau, The Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

METH LAB BURN VICTIMS ARE A PROBLEM FOR HOSPITALS

LITTLE ROCK - They often arrive anonymously, dumped in the hospital's 
emergency room bay with burns over their bodies.

Some become blind because they won't tell a doctor how they were burned, 
afraid that if they mention any of the chemicals used to make 
methamphetamine they'll be prosecuted.

As the number of burn victims from methamphetamine lab explosions and fires 
rises, doctors at burn units say they've had to take a new approach to 
treating patients.

"They hardly ever say, 'I was working on my meth lab,' " said Jimmy Parks, 
a nurse in the burn unit at Arkansas Children's Hospital. "Usually, 'The 
water heater blew up.' And then it kind of comes along when we finally work 
it out."

The patients drain already financially strapped burn units, Parks said. 
Statistics from the federal Drug Enforcement Agency show that Missouri had 
2,207 methamphetamine lab seizures in 2001, up from 863 in 2000. The 
numbers are lower for Arkansas, with 366 seizures in 2001, up from 235 in 
2000. And in Oklahoma there were 580 in 2001, up from 383 in 2000. In 
general, the numbers are much higher for Southern states.

"You can pretty much guess that people who are running meth labs out of 
their back room are not insured," Parks said. "Percentage-wise they tax 
more than the average patients."

That's not the only problem patients injured in methamphetamine lab 
accidents bring to burn units.

"These guys come in and we have the police sitting with them sometimes," 
Parks said. "Sometimes they leave against medical advice. They're afraid 
they're going to get in trouble with the law."

Doctors take great pains to treat meth manufacturers whose shops blow up, 
said Dr. Ken Larson, who heads the burn unit at St. John's Hospital in 
Springfield, Mo. He said it's his job to treat the patient and the police's 
to fix the methamphetamine crime.

"That's a fine line," he said. "It's not something where I'm willing to 
call the police department, where I say, 'Joe over here, he's been making 
meth and you need to check out his house."'

Larson said doctor-patient confidentiality enters the equation. Police say 
they would visit with prosecutors before questioning any medical workers.

"We wouldn't do anything to jeopardize the doctor-patient relationship," 
said Capt. Mike Davidson of the Arkansas State Police. "But some doctors 
might be willing to openly discuss what would have been said."

Larson is writing a paper he plans to distribute to hospitals that 
regularly deal with injuries from meth lab explosions. He said that 
emergency workers on the front lines need to know what to look for when 
they first treat the patients, and that workers can expect the patients to lie.

"There's always a danger to the paramedics," Larson said. "They (the burn 
victim) can still have chemicals on them, so they can get my personnel 
contaminated."

Common injuries include chemical burns and scalds to the skin. Other 
chemicals can blind a victim by seeping into their eyes and melting their 
corneas. Those burns take days to set in.

Pam Tuck worked as a nurse at St. John's and said that patients wouldn't 
'fess up to her about how they got hurt, even though she could often tell 
the cause.

"I would say to them, 'If you were making meth and you got this in your 
eyes you could go blind, so you have to come clean with me,"' Tuck said. 
"If they tell us and they're honest with us, then we can help them, but in 
two days the damage is irreversible."'
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager