By GINGER ADAMS OTIS
January 11, 2009
A piping-hot radiator placed next to a locker full of drugs in a Harlem
EMS station made a state health inspector's blood run cold last week.
The ambulance unit's entire narcotic supply - 20 vials each of morphine,
Valium and midazolam - was tossed after it was discovered that
temperatures inside Station 16 had reached a steamy 92 degrees and were
likely higher inside the metal locker, sources said.
The narcotics start to lose their potency - and run the risk of altering
their chemical compositions - when temperatures top 86 degrees, according
to the manufacturers' guidelines.
When a drug's chemical compound alters, "severe allergic reactions could
occur," a Manhattan doctor told The Post.
"Heat changes the composition, and you don't know who's going to have a
bad response," said Dr. Tom Bolte, a Midtown physician.
"It could be life-threatening for some patients."
Medics told The Post they've been complaining for years about the ancient
heating system at Station 16 in Harlem Hospital and how it routinely bakes
the facility - and the lock box - during the winter.
All Station 16 ambulances were taken out of service Thursday morning and
sent to a neighboring EMS house to switch out their potentially tainted
meds with new ones, sources said.
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