Colorado: Hepatitis C Victims May Sue

Attorneys report they are beginning to hear from persons interested in pursuing their legal options after potentially being exposed to hepatitis C at two Colorado medical facilities. An infected surgical technician is accused of stealing syringes filled with the painkiller Fentanyl, then replacing them with saline-filled syringes she had previously used to inject the drug into herself.

As a result, up to 5,700 surgical patients at Rose Medical Center in Denver and Audubon Surgery Center in Colorado Springs may have been exposed to hepatitis C.

On Tuesday, the state health department linked a 10th hepatitis infection to surgery at Rose, but the latest case is not among patients tested since the matter was made public last Thursday. Rather, the case was confirmed from a prior test submitted to the state health department, said Ned Calonge, Colorado's chief medical officer. The 10 cases so far have been linked only through patient interviews, not genetic sequencing, for which Colorado is seeking CDC's assistance.

Similar cases of drug theft and patient infection have occurred at other US hospitals, leading to the creation of elaborate safeguards. Some hospitals require signatures for each syringe dispensed, or the use of single-use needles, said Jim Leventhal, a Denver attorney. "There are dozens of different precautions that should have been in place and apparently were not in place that would have prevented this from happening," he said.

Lawyers expect to scrutinize the pre-employment screening performed by both facilities where the technician worked. Officials at Rose were aware the woman had hepatitis C. "Did they ever wonder why she had hepatitis C? I mean, look at her MySpace page, where she said she had a fascination with needles," Leventhal said.

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