Mayo Clinic RT sentenced 30 years for spreading Hep C

U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard on Sept. 10 sentenced Steven Beumel, RT, to 30 years in federal prison for intentionally spreading hepatitis C at the Mayo Clinic’s interventional radiology unit.

Beumel admitted that he stole of Fentanyl during patients’ procedures at the Jacksonville, Fla., clinic and replaced them with syringes of saline contaminated with hepatitis C from 2006 to 2008, according to a report in the Orlando Sentinel.

The clinic’s hepatitis C outbreak prompted testing thousands of patients, the Sentinel reported. Two patients, one of whom died, were linked to Beumel.

On May 11, Beumel pleaded guilty to one count of tampering with a consumer product resulting in death, four counts of tampering with a consumer product resulting in serious bodily injury and five counts of stealing Fentanyl by deception.