Police: DaVita nurse injected 2 with bleach

Affidavit: Nurse told detectives bleach in syringe was for a cleaning solution

Friday, May 30, 2008

A former DaVita nurse charged with injecting two patients with bleach in April told police detectives she drew up bleach in a syringe to measure for a cleaning solution, stated an arrest affidavit filed Friday.

In an interview with detectives April 29, the day DaVita says it fired her from its Lufkin clinic, Kimberly Saenz, a 34-year-old licensed vocation nurse from Pollok, said she administered saline to a patient and that she documented it on the patient's chart, the affidavit stated.

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SAENZ

"She also admitted that she had administered saline to (a patient) because her venous chamber was clotting during her dialysis, and claimed she charted this on (the patient's) chart," the report stated. "A check of (the) chart revealed that Kimberly Saenz did not chart giving her anything."

There was no indication in the affidavit of whether Saenz specified if bleach was in the saline solution she administered. Both patients survived, police said.

Police detectives arrested Saenz late Friday afternoon, charging her with two counts of aggravated assault — a second-degree felony offense.

Saenz, who was fired by DaVita April 29, was arrested by Lufkin police later that day on a charge of public intoxication, according to jail records.

"This is the individual who we terminated immediately upon becoming aware of these isolated, deceptive and horrible actions that have now been formally alleged by the Lufkin Police Department," said DaVita spokesman Michael Chee. "We are grateful to the Lufkin Police Department and state and federal authorities for their work on this case and hope that this individual is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. It is unfortunate that until this point this issue could not be publicly discussed, which meant our Lufkin dialysis center caregivers have endured understandable but unfair criticism."

The nurse's bond has been set at $200,000 on both counts with a bond condition stating she is not allowed to work in a medical environment, care for patients or dispense medication upon making bail, said Angelina County Justice of the Peace Judge Billy Ball.

The criminal charges come amid a local, state and federal health investigation at DaVita Lufkin Dialysis Center, 700 S. John Redditt Drive, which closed its doors April 28 after a recent spike in patient deaths and complications.

Detectives obtained a warrant for Saenz's arrest Friday after finding evidence at the facility, said police spokesman Lt. David Young.

"Two witnesses reported seeing Saenz draw bleach into syringes and inject the substance into two of the dialysis lines connected to two different patients on April 28, 2008," Young stated in a press release. "Both victims suffered injury after having bleach injected into their systems and one of them required treatment at a hospital for pain and medical complications caused by the injection."

Blood tests of one patient who was admitted to a local hospital following the April 28 incident showed the patient had "an elevated LDH as well as hemolyzation, which could be indicative of a caustic agent, such as bleach, being introduced into the bloodstream," the affidavit stated.

Forensic testing on the syringes and dialysis lines used on the patients showed bleach had been used, the release stated.

Chee said he would not answer questions specific to the police investigation.

"Because (the arrest allegations are) according to the police and they cited an ongoing investigation, we are not going to be able to comment specifically," Chee said "We have not discussed details of the investigation with police directly."

Chee said he could not say how long Saenz had worked for the company because of privacy concerns.

DaVita has said it believes an employee intentionally caused the death of four patients at its Lufkin facility at 700 S. John Redditt Drive. Saenz has not been charged with any patient deaths at the facility and police have not indicated if any charges will be filed against Saenz in connection to patient deaths, although Young said police are continuing the investigation and that additional criminal charges may be filed in the future.

Saenz's attorney, John Henry Tatum, was not immediately available for comment Friday.

Jessica Savage's e-mail address

is jsavage@coxnews.com.

Source: http://www.lufkindailynews.com/hp/content/news/stories/2008/05/31/DaVita_update.html#comments