Hepatitis C Outbreak

[Tsiyu]

Source: WBAL NEWS

Hospitals in Maryland and six other states are scrambling to identify people who might have been intentionally infected with Hepatitis C at the hands of a medical technician.

33-year-old David Kwiatkowski is accused of stealing anesthetic drugs from a New Hampshire Hospital and using contaminated syringes on patients.

*snip*

Testing has already been recommended for about 4700 people in New Hampshire alone. Officials are still determining who should be tested elsewhere.

He worked at four hospitals in Maryland including Johns Hopkins, Maryland General, Baltimore Veterans, and Southern Maryland


Read more: http://www.wbal.com/article/92359/3/template-story/Hepatitis-C-Outbreak

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Need to leave DU but this needs to get out there in the public.

[hlthe2b]

1. This happened in Colorado a few years ago--identical scenario...

Sad that other states did not take the lesson learned here to tighten procedures.

[MADem]

2. This has been in the news in New England for awhile. From what I understand, the hospitals are

notifying patients who may have come in contact with the needles and are offering free testing--that is the case in Exeter, anyway.

[xchrom]

3. Horrifying. Nt

[Baitball Blogger]

4. This just happened in Jacksonville!

http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2012-05-11/story/former-mayo-clinic-employee-pleads-guilty-spreading-hepatitis

[sinkingfeeling]

5. It's been on just about every news site since the beginning of the week.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/11424247

[tawadi]

6. Yuck

[maddezmom]

7. Unlocking

Last edited Sun Jul 29, 2012, 10:27 PM - Edit history (1)

A few hosts disagreed with the lock.

[Tsiyu]

10. Thanks

I did a search but didn't see the other post.

Just thought DUers would want to know.

I appreciate the unlock.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

8. That would be a horrible disease to be exposed to.

My current girlfriend's fiance caught it years before they met. Just before they were about to be married in the late 90s he was diagnosed with cancer. Because of the hepatitis C the cancer rapidly progressed and he died soon after.

The guy who did this should be locked up for a long time.

[brentspeak]

9. Lock him up forever

Absolutely no chance of parole. Keep him behind bars until he expires. Too many of these freaks recently spreading their diseases to the general public. And the further crime of destroying the trust that the public implicitly places with healthcare workers.

[tawadi]

11. Here is another link about the story...

Thanks to maddezmom (in Meta)

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/26/2914043/nh-hepatitis-c-probe-spreads-to.html