Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
San Francisco Chronicle - Wednesday, June 5, 2002
Matthew B. Stannard, Chronicle Staff Writer
Elaine Giorgi, 55, pleaded no contest Monday in Santa Clara County Superior Court to four felony counts of illegal treatment or disposal of medical waste and one misdemeanor count of falsifying medical records.
Giorgi faces a maximum sentence of five years in state prison, said Deputy District Attorney Dale Sanderson, who prosecuted the case. She is scheduled for sentencing on July 18.
Giorgi's case led to a new law requiring tougher education and training standards for technicians who draw blood. Working as a phlebotomist at SmithKline Beecham clinic in Palo Alto, she came under the scrutiny of state health officials in April 1999, not long after a co-worker reported that she saw Giorgi reusing needles after washing them with water and a dilute solution of hydrogen peroxide.
SmithKline officials interviewed the phlebotomist, fired her and notified the state Department of Health Services, which barred Giorgi from working in the medical field. Health officials fined SmithKline Beecham $102,000 and urged thousands of patients to be tested for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C.
A state study later found no increased incidence of infection among 4,890 patients who had blood drawn by Giorgi.
In exchange for pleading no contest to the five counts, 14 other charges against Giorgi are to be dismissed. Sanderson said the dismissals will make little difference in the probable sentence.
Giorgi, who remained free on $25,000 bail, did not return a message left Tuesday at her San Mateo home.
Giorgi's case led to at least 17 state and federal civil lawsuits against SmithKline and Giorgi, including one from a woman who said she was infected with hepatitis C.
Some of those cases have ended in dismissals. Among them was a class-action suit that included Jesse Moon of Palo Alto whose teenage sons had blood drawn at the lab where Giorgi worked in 1997 and 1998.
Moon said she was disappointed by the dismissal of her civil case and also wasn't completely satisfied with the sentence Giorgi faces.
Still, she said: "That's better than nothing. . . . She's lost so much. She's lost her house, she's lost her friends, she can never work anywhere -- she's paid a lot."
E-mail Matthew B. Stannard at mstannard@sfchronicle.com.
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