CRNA Took Laryngoscope Blades Home, Modified Them, and Reused Them on Patients

Paragon Anesthesia has issued a public response after one of its former certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) was found to have modified single-use laryngoscope blades at home and reused them on surgical patients at Johnson City Medical Center (JCMC) in Johnson City, Tennessee, WJHL News Channel 11 reported. The company provided its press release to the station on Thursday, September 17, 2026.

According to documents from the Tennessee Board of Nursing, Jeffrey Dale Watson took home packaged laryngoscopy blades, modified them, and returned them to JCMC for use in surgeries. The board states he used the blades in multiple surgeries after “cleaning” but not sterilizing them.

Watson resigned from Paragon and allowed his Tennessee RN license and TN APRN certificate to expire, according to the documents. The Tennessee Board of Nursing has since revoked both credentials, according to the state’s disciplinary action report.

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Laryngoscope blades are used to visualize the airway during intubation. The blades at issue were disposable, single-use devices meant to be discarded after one patient.

The state’s disciplinary action report lays out a timeline. On December 2, 2025, Watson was found to be reusing anesthesia circuits and a modified laryngoscopy blade while providing anesthesia services at JCMC. When hospital staff interviewed him on December 4, he admitted to modifying and reusing blades on multiple patients, saying it made “intubation easier for him.” He said he was unsure exactly when he first modified a blade, but believed it was in the spring of 2025.

A Tennessee Department of Health investigator interviewed Watson again on February 25, 2026. In that interview, according to the board, he confessed to taking home a few packaged laryngoscopy blades, altering them, and returning them to JCMC for use in surgeries. The board documents state he “admitted to altering the blade to his liking” and acknowledged cleaning the blades but not sterilizing them.

Letting his credentials lapse did not end the matter. According to the disciplinary action report, the Board of Nursing revoked Watson’s APRN certificate, his RN license, and his privilege to practice in Tennessee from another state, even though he had already let the credentials expire. These findings come from an administrative licensure proceeding, not a criminal case. No criminal charges have been reported.

The Employer Response, and a Patient Who Says the System Failed

In its statement, Paragon Anesthesia told News Channel 11: “Paragon Anesthesia, P.C. acknowledges that one of our employees, a certified registered nurse anesthetist, deviated from established protocol of single-use disposable laryngoscope blades. Paragon takes this matter seriously and is committed to the highest standards of patient safety and infection control.”

The company says that once it was informed, it immediately removed Watson from clinical duties while the investigation proceeded, then accepted his resignation. Paragon also says it conducted a “comprehensive review of our compliance with all sterilization and infection control protocols,” implemented additional training and oversight, and cooperated fully with Ballad Health and the Tennessee Department of Health through the review and patient notification process.

“We have taken immediate corrective action to prevent any recurrence and will continue to uphold the rigorous standards expected in our profession,” the release states.

Paragon says it notified affected patients and offered recommended testing. Stacie Johnson, a patient treated by Watson, spoke with News Channel 11 about her July 2025 surgery. “I received a letter on December the 24th, from Paragon,” she said. “I was made aware that the CRNA that was assisting was, in fact, reusing a medical supply. I’m not sure if it’s a disposable item. I was told at that time it was the endotracheal tube.” After receiving the letter, Johnson returned to a Ballad Health facility for bloodborne pathogen testing. “So with me asking all my questions, it was Hep B, Hep C, HIV,” she said. “None of them came back positive; the infectious disease doctor said that he would like to do them again in six months.”

Johnson was blunt about the bigger picture: “I feel like the system failed. It was just beyond negligence.” She also said Watson’s name stayed on Paragon’s website after she was told he was no longer working in Ballad facilities. The story has drawn heavy engagement since WJHL posted it to Facebook.

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For nurses, this case includes two things that rarely make headlines together: infection control and how licensure enforcement actually plays out.

The device rules here are not ambiguous. The FDA treats any facility that reprocesses a single-use device as a manufacturer, subject to the same validation requirements as the original maker. Cleaning a disposable blade at home meets none of that. The CDC’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee classifies laryngoscope blades as semicritical items that require sterilization or high-level disinfection before reuse, because they contact airway mucous membranes. The FDA also warns that design changes can affect whether a device can be properly cleaned and disinfected, and that features like sharp angles and adjacent surfaces can trap debris and biological material. A blade altered at home is a design change nobody validated.

Two practical takeaways stand out:

• First, this was caught inside the hospital: the board record says Watson was found reusing the equipment during a December 2 case, and JCMC staff interviewed him two days later. The record does not say who noticed, but someone did, and reporting what you see is how workarounds get stopped. If a colleague is using a single-use device that does not look like it came out of a sealed package, that is a reportable observation, not a personality conflict.
• Second, resigning and letting a license lapse does not close a board case. Watson’s credentials had already expired, and the board revoked them anyway. That revocation is a public disciplinary record, and it appears in the state’s monthly disciplinary action reports, not on an employer roster, which is why those reports are the better place to check.

It is also a reminder that “it works better for me” is not a clinical justification. Comfort with a tool does not override sterile processing standards, and a personal modification made outside the facility is invisible to everyone else on the team.

🤔 What would you do if you saw a coworker modify or reuse a single-use device because it “worked better” for them? Share your thoughts below.