Prominent Denver doctors argue they don’t have a duty to lock up potent surgery sedatives, despite the 2009 operating-room theft and fraud by Kristen Parker that infected 18 patients with hepatitis C, according to court documents.The chairman of a major anesthesiology department at St. Anthony Hospital will testify that doctors don’t have a duty to lock up drugs like fentanyl at all times, serving as an expert witness in support of defendant Dr. Sherry Gorman, records show.Gorman also maintains she did not have that responsibility and that she considers drug diversions an “urban legend,” in a lawsuit brought against Gorman by an infected patient. The case is scheduled for trial in February.Surgery technician Parker’s responsibility for the breach of medical practice was never in doubt. But patients, attorneys and doctors have argued about who else deserves blame for the thefts and infections.Read more about the trial at denverpost.com.

Read about Parker’s connection to Colorado Springs medical clinics at gazettedev.gazette.com.

Fentanyl Citrate, a Class II Controlled Substance as classified by the Drug Enforcement Agency in the secure area of a local hospital in 2009. Photo by Joe Amon, The Denver Post