Oil secret has nasty side effect

By Susan Greene Denver Post Columnist Oil and gas companies have spent lots of time and money arguing Colorado doesn't need new rules regulating their industry. What happened to Cathy Behr might convince you otherwise. Behr is a nurse at Durango's Mercy Regional Medical Center. A gas-patch worker showed up in her ER in April, soaked in a sweet- smelling fluid after a drilling accident. Behr removed his boots and helped him shower, breathing in the chemical fumes. She lost her sense of smell. Her vision blurred. Then came heart, liver and respiratory failures that nearly killed her. Three doctors diagnosed her with chemical exposure. Trying to figure out how to treat her, one called Weatherford, her patient's oil-field employer, to learn which chemicals it uses to make ZetaFlow, the fluid both were exposed to. The company... [read full story]