Pittsburgh Hospital, Other Locations Falling Victim to Major Equipment Thefts

Sept. 30, 2005
Market for used colonoscopes may have driven recent thefts

PITTSBURGH -- Four colonoscopes were stolen recently from Armstrong County Memorial Hospital, a theft that one law enforcement official says is likely driven by a big overseas market.

"If you go on the Web and type in 'used endoscopes' or 'used colonoscopes,' you'll find dozens of suppliers selling used equipment," said State College police Det. Ralph Ralston. "It's kind of bizarre."

State police in Kittanning announced Thursday that they were investigating last weekend's theft from Armstrong County Memorial Hospital in East Franklin Township, about 35 miles north of Pittsburgh. The devices, worth $103,680 total, are used to examine the human colon.

"We're mystified by it ourselves," said Bud Mitchell, the hospital's director of facilities management.

Meanwhile, Ralston has been investigating the theft of two colonoscopes, worth a combined $46,700, from the Mount Nittany Medical Center since July.

"There aren't any leads to go on," Ralston said.

The medical devices, which sell for $25,000 new, can be purchased for as little as $4,000 on some Web sites, The Associated Press found. Ralston said some used equipment sites let hospitals and others enter information about stolen equipment, so it can be identified if somebody tries to sell it through those sites.

The Armstrong County units were discovered missing at the beginning of Monday's daylight shift, when patients began showing up for colonoscopies. The hospital had other colonoscopes and the procedures were performed as scheduled, but hospital officials immediately began a department-by-department search for the equipment because of its value, Mitchell said.

"Later the same day, we called the police, once we felt there was some foul play there," Mitchell said. The hospital is mulling offering a reward. State police said they have no leads.

"It is in the rumor mill that this is something that's happened to several other hospitals in the Pittsburgh region," Mitchell said.

Officials with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, the largest hospital network in the area, couldn't immediately say if they've had similar thefts at their hospitals.

But the problem has cropped up elsewhere.

The Florida Hospital Association, which includes 220 hospitals in that state, lobbied for and got stiffer penalties for medical equipment theft after a number of incidents there, said agency spokesman Rich Rasmussen.

Stealing an emergency medical device worth more than $300 is now a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison; before the change, someone would have had to steal equipment worth $100,000 to merit that penalty, Rasmussen said.

In 2002, 19 endoscopes - devices, including colonoscopes, used to examine various parts of the body - were stolen from Florida's Winter Haven Hospital. After local police had no luck solving the case, it was turned over to the FBI last year. The FBI couldn't immediately comment on whether that case had been solved.

The stolen Florida scopes were made by Melville, N.Y.-based Olympus America Inc., which is also known for its cameras. The Armstrong County scopes were also made by Olympus, which claims to control about 70 percent of the U.S. endoscope market. Officials there couldn't immediately comment on how common such thefts are.

Ralston said the first case he heard of involved DuBois Regional Medical Center, in Jefferson County. DuBois Asst. Chief Ron LaRotonda said police are still investigating that theft, reported on Dec. 27.

"Kind of a unique item to get taken, huh?" LaRotonda said.