Ex-Technician Ruled Guilty in Lidocaine Case

Former hospital technician Randy Powers was found guilty today of injecting an 11-month-old girl with a near-fatal dose of the heart drug Lidocaine.

Van Nuys Superior Court Commissioner Alan B. Haber, who oversaw the 10-day, non-jury trial, handed down his verdict moments after attorneys concluded their final arguments.

Haber found Powers, 26, guilty of assault with a deadly weapon, unlawful practice of medicine and child endangering for injecting Sarah Mathews with a massive dose of Lidocaine while his mother, Hazel Powers, was baby-sitting her at the Powers’ home in Encino on Sept. 10, 1984.

Left Child Unconscious

The Lidocaine, which is used as a local anesthetic and to control an irregular heartbeat, left Sarah unconscious and in critical condition, doctors testified during the trial.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Michelle Rosenblatt, who prosecuted the case, said Powers faces a maximum of seven years in prison.

Powers, who was ordered into sheriff’s custody until his sentencing July 10, remains under investigation in connection with the deaths of at least 15 elderly patients at Queen of Angels Medical Center in Los Angeles and Sherman Oaks Community Hospital where he worked in 1983 and 1984, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Brian R. Kelberg, head of the district attorney’s medical-legal section.