Massachusetts State Police are holding a press conference today at 2 p.m. on the closure of the state drug lab in Jamaica Plain. DEVELOPING.... http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1061156911&pos=breaking
You mean who's campaign she worked for, who she donated to and who in the state house she is related to.
In all seriousness, maybe I missed something, but was there something that leads you to believe she was a political hack of some sort rather than a legit employee who turned out to be unethical?
I'm sure plenty are, but I'd venture to guess that a drug lab chemist requires some kind of qualification beyond a political hookup. I could be wrong but it doesn't sound like a cushy no-show gift job.
Interesting that they did not specify what she did. The media makes it sound like she was throwing cases, but all anyone quoted said was that she failed to follow protocol. Might be lazy vouchering, or cross contamination issues. It does not mean, yet, that the coke pookie had that tested positive was not coke.
Union: Chemists work in ‘extreme conditions’ The head of the union that represents the state’s 10 drug lab chemists working in Jamaica Plain said the scientists toiled under “extreme conditions” — processing as many as 18,000 drug samples a year on top of testifying for cases in court — before oversight of the lab transferred from the state Department of Public Health to the state police. “I don’t condone what was done,” Joe Dorant, president of the Massachusetts Organization of State Engineers and Scientists, said of the probe into a chemist accused of mishandling drug samples, jeopardizing thousands of cases statewide. “But sometimes mistakes are made under these extreme conditions.” State police said they’re investigating whether the rogue chemist, identified by outraged defense lawyers as Annie Dookhan, may have committed intentional “improprieties.” http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20220831union_chemists_work_in_extreme_conditions/
WHY the HELL was the Dept of Public Health overseeing drug testing in criminal cases? And ya know what? They'd just posted something like 4 or 6 positions for this job. (they're closed now) So, clearly, the DPH oversight was an issue. This woman was either "in" with someone or horrifically incompetant.
"I heard"....so take it with a very fine grain of salt, that things like weights of substances etc. weren't matching up.
My wife was in supreior court this week and saw three cases in the course of 2 hours get dismissed based on Annie Dookhan drug certs. She done messed up a lot of good police work.
For some reason, I have the feeling that we'll get a second shot at all of the defendants who have charges dismissed because of this.
I would hope she will face some other punishment besides losing her job. I don't understand the "she wanted a bigger case load" defense. Here's a thought, if you want to make a good impression and look good in front of the bosses how about doing your job to absolute perfection and not worrying about whether or not someone has a bigger case load than you. Hell, the last place I worked the goal of most people was to have the smallest client list possible and handle them just competently enough not to get fired but not actually do the job. Yeah somehow I don't think that too many innocent folks have been affected by her stupidity.
She's likely going to be charged, but remember, if that's what happens, any chance of salvaging any case with her work is gone. She take a 5th Amendment privilege on any testimony, even cases where should could possibly testify she did nothing wrong.
Clearly. They showed the DPH Commissioner, John Auerbach falling on his sword on the news. Then they followed by stating that he accepted a job at a University, I believe it was Northwestern (where he can instruct others to be inept yet highly paid). His mission statement at the DPH: "Helping People Lead Healthy Lives In Healthy Communities" http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/gov/departments/dph/welcome-from-commissioner-john-auerbach.html
Do we know if Annie Khan Dookhan is even a U.S. citizen? Does anyone know her biographical info? Where was she born and educated? Where has she worked? I can't help but think this was intentional, because I can't imagine anyone being this incompetent and still managing to run her life, feed herself, tie her shoes, travel to and from work, etc, etc. There has to be more to this story than what the biased media's telling us so far. . . . If anyone knows, please educate us. Thanks!
