Opinion: CO law does little to protect patients from bad surgical techs

In the five years Colorado has regulated surgical technologists in its hospitals, Rocky Allen was only the second to get suspended. Allen, the 28-year-old hospital worker accused of stealing a powerful narcotic drug at Swedish Medical Center, had managed to move from state to state, getting fired by one hospital after another, before Colorado admitted him to work again in its operating rooms. This happened for two reasons: Colorado is one of a handful of states that regulate surgical technologists at all. And it doesn't perform background checks to see if applicants are lying about their work or criminal history.