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Concord Hospital Slapped With $200k Fine

Flikr Creative Commons / Grumpy-Puddin

The State is fining Concord Hospital over two hundred thousand dollars. The hospital was nabbed for not disposing its pharmaceutical waste properly.

During an inspection the Department of Environmental Services found that Concord Hospital was throwing pills and other non-infectious medical waste straight into the garbage. According to the DES this is the first time in New Hampshire that a civil suit has been filed for improper disposal of pharmaceuticals.

Assistant Attorney General Allan Brooks says while some solvents and used oil were not being handled properly, the bulk of the problem was medications.

"Things like this should not slip under the radar." says Brooks, "I believe this is one of the few facilities that DES found did not have a specific program to deal with hazardous waste."

According to Brooks Concord Hospital can pay $50 thousand dollars of its fine by giving training, free of charge to other New Hampshire hospitals.

Sam Evans-Brown has been working for New Hampshire Public Radio since 2010, when he began as a freelancer. He shifted gears in 2016 and began producing Outside/In, a podcast and radio show about “the natural world and how we use it.” His work has won him several awards, including two regional Edward R. Murrow awards, one national Murrow, and the Overseas Press Club of America's award for best environmental reporting in any medium. He studied Politics and Spanish at Bates College, and before reporting was variously employed as a Spanish teacher, farmer, bicycle mechanic, ski coach, research assistant, a wilderness trip leader and a technical supporter.
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