Cyanide killed hospital employee, official says

AP ^ | 11/28/2014 56 minutes ago | Joe Mandak

[wtd]

• Cyanide killed hospital employee, official says

  PITTSBURGH (AP) — A University of Pittsburgh Medical Center employee found dead at work earlier this month was killed by cyanide poisoning, but the medical examiner who made the determination Friday said it's too soon to know whether the death was a suicide, a homicide or an accident.

[driftdiver]

Most hospital emotes would b use insulin for themselves.

[PghBaldy]

2nd medical worker dead from cyanide in Pittsburgh this year. Other case was a doctor murdered by her creepy doctor husband.

[wtd]

PghBaldy wrote: "2nd medical worker dead from cyanide in Pittsburgh this year. Other case was a doctor murdered by her creepy doctor husband."

I read about that connection in the linked story. The accused physician claims a work related need for the cyanide...plausible? I have no idea.

Comments at the linked article suggest a couple possibilities, including a love triangle gone horribly wrong...or someone possibly tampering with beverages in the employee lounge/fridge.

[flamberge]

The accused physician claims a work related need for the cyanide...

Not plausible.

Cyanide may be used in certain lab tests and a technician might have need for small quantities. There is no valid medical treatment which would use this substance and no reason for a Doctor to have any.

[Gay State Conservative]

I worked for years in a big city ER.In all that time I witness one cyanide ingestion,a medical student.The ER docs had advance warning of his arrival and I still recall the scrambling to find out how a cyanide ingestion is handled.

[rlmorel]

I don’t think it is too hard to accidentally kill yourself with cyanide. You have to make sure you observe all the precautions scrupulously. If you screw around and try to do something without the proper protection, you can go down quickly.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

Q. How is cyanide ingestion handled?

A. Call 1-800-FLOWERS and send a bouquet to the funeral home.

[rlmorel]

Exactly. It is used a lot in chemistry and industrial processes, but in direct use by physicians...I can’t think of anything.

[rlmorel]

Yeah. There is a reason the Nazis, who well understood what poisons did to humans, chose cyanide as their suicide drug of choice.

It is quick, efficient, and doesn’t take much.

[PA Engineer]

There is a high probability this was suicide based on the medical history of the victim. I cannot give any more details.

[rlmorel]

Reading the article makes it sound like it wasn’t an accident.

The paucity of details is odd, but maybe they do need to be sure that they don’t inadvertently release some useful information to a potential murderer if they were still unsure of the nature of the death at that time.

[PA Engineer]

I'm confident it was suicide and know some details of the case. I cannot say anything more than that.

The first incident at UPMC was murder. This case may have resulted in the continuing poor security at the medical school labs. The security issues came out during the trial.

One reason I think they are being closed mouth about the details is the concern that Ferrante may use this for appeal of his criminal conviction and defense in the civil case filed against him.

[Gay State Conservative]

Q. How is cyanide ingestion handled?

The case I witnessed was a *long* time ago but IIRC the patient made it out of the ER.I never heard any reports thereafter,however.

[rlmorel]

Sounds plausible...