CONCORD, N.H. — One of the 30 people believed to have contracted hepatitis C from a traveling medical technician in New Hampshire is suing a Nebraska-based health staffing agency.
Robert Fowler of Seabrook was diagnosed with the blood-borne viral disease in June, 14 months after he underwent a cardiac catheterization at Exeter Hospital. Fowler was treated at the hospital’s cardiac lab a month after it hired David Kwiatkowski, who was charged last week with federal drug crimes.
Kwiatkowski is accused of stealing anesthetic drugs from the lab, injecting himself and contaminating syringes that were later used on patients.
Though he told investigators he was diagnosed with hepatitis C in May, authorities said there is evidence that he has had the disease since at least June 2010.
In a lawsuit filed Sunday in federal court in Nebraska, Boston lawyer Domenic Paolini alleges that Triage Staffing Inc. was negligent in hiring, employing and supervising Kwiatkowski as a traveling technician and in sending him to Exeter. He argues that Triage should have known of the likelihood that Kwiatkowski would cause harm and that the company intentionally misrepresented his qualifications and employment record.
Triage’s president did not return calls seeking comment Friday or Monday.
Kwiatkowski, who grew up in Michigan, worked as a “traveler” sent by staffing agencies to hospitals around the country, usually for temporary jobs. Federal prosecutors say he has worked in at least six states since 2007.
Though authorities have not publicly identified the other states, health officials in Michigan, Maryland, Kansas and New York have confirmed his employment. He worked at Exeter Hospital from April 2011 until May, when he was fired after the outbreak was discovered.
According to court documents, Kwiatkowski told investigators he did not steal drugs, is “not a shooter,” and is scared of needles. He also said he was allergic to fentanyl, the powerful anesthetic he’s accused of stealing, though medical records indicate he was given the drug during a medical procedure in 2011.
Former co-workers in other states told investigators that Kwiatkowski was known for telling false stories, including saying that he had cancer. According to court documents, he was fired for falsifying his timesheets at one hospital, was accused of stealing fentanyl from a hospital operating room in 2008 and aroused significant suspicion in Exeter, where co-workers said he sometimes looked like he was “on something.”
But the head of the cardiac lab said Kwiatkowski provided plausible explanations related to either personal medical issues or family crises whenever co-workers raised questions.
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To what end? If a person living with hepatitis C is working in the health care field…they should be fired? Where would you propose they work?
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Perhaps you are confusing hepatitis C with hepatitis A. Hepatitis C is a blood borne virus that is only transmitted by direct blood to blood contact, the risk of which is infinitesimal in a restaurant setting.
ugh
Approximately four million Americans are infected with hepatitis C. Of those four million, there have been four or five cases in which pathological, despicable individuals have callously exposed others to the disease. Statistically, your chances of being injured in a motor vehicle accident or in gun violence are significantly higher than being maliciously infected with the hepatitis C virus.
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I wonder if everyone who has an infectious disease would tell you, particularly those with hepatitis C. Given the prejudicial attitudes against those who are hepatitis C carriers, it would probably be in their best interests to tell no one.
I think you could avoid a lot of your ‘fear’ if you got the facts about these contagious illnesses. You’re more likely to contract a cold or flu than Hepatitis and considering cold and flu viruses are all over the place, you better quarantine yourself to your house! :)
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Your health care provider can help you to better understand your real, as opposed to imagined, risks. It is riskier for you to attend a Kindergarten play than to be served food by a person infected with hepatitis C. Pumping one’s own gas is also a far riskier proposition than to be treated by a healthcare worker with hepatitis C.
It would be a breach of confidentiality. Just like you can have HIV and not disclose it if you don’t feel like it.
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Fair enough. I guess some clarification between statements like ‘healthcare workers should be screened’ and ‘ don’t want someone with Hep C taking care of me’. I took it to sound like if a healthcare worker has something, they shouldn’t be working on patients. But, realistically, your medical assistant, doctor or phlebotomist could have herpes, hepatitis, or any other disease and you would never know. Just be sure they’re washing their hands and wearing gloves when appropriate and you’ll be ok as well as them.
I could be dealing with HIV-infected people on a daily basis. I don’t want to handle HIV-infected blood. That’s why I wear gloves and other personal protective equipment. Does that mean I don’t take care of these folks? And unless people with Hep C are getting their blood and body fluids into your food, they’re not a threat. You’re more likely to contract MRSA from your neighborhood shopping cart handles and ATM machines. I would do a little more research on the subject.
I did not anticipate supportive remarks and I am deeply grateful for yours.
Well you are welcome. I read so many comments on here based on nothing but opinion (which, yes, we are all entitled to one) that has been concluded by anything other than facts. Even if it’s not medically-related, if I’m not sure of something, I research it. I don’t spew untruths. :) Have a nice day!
We are PEOPLE and we are everywhere. We teach your children, we invest your money, we sell you insurance, we stock your produce, we fix your furnaces. We swim in your pools, lakes, ponds, and oceans. We patronize your gyms, nurseries, and hairdressers. We sit next to you in the waiting room at your dentist and at the theater.
Now what?
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With so much ignorance and fear mongering about those who live with HepC it is a wonder that more don’t maliciously spread it to unsuspecting others. Fortunately, you will find that most people with this disease are not afflicted with the kind of narrow minded spite that you are filled with.
We drink from your fountains, we eat at the same restaurants, we borrow books from the same libraries, we attend the same concerts, and we breathe the same air.
Frightening.
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We serve your food, we clean your teeth, and we give you counselling. We work in all professions in every capacity. We perform your surgeries, we drive your buses, we provide daycare for your children. These are not foreboding and bitter. These are our jobs and these are our lives. You are in fear of us due to your own ignorance.
We are everywhere, and yet the sky has not fallen. Take your witch hunt somewhere else.
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Did you read the information in those links? Nowhere do they state that you can become infected with HepC by being “near” someone infected with it, as you have otherwise opined. That is false.
And yes, we are everywhere. Even in your lab.
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Why? That would mean that all healthcare workers potentially might infect their patients intentionally….? We are trained to treat EVERYONE as if they could have a communicable disease. We are the ones who handle body fluids from multiple people. WE are the ones at risk.
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And likewise, as you previously stated you suffer from Crohn’s disease and subsequently edited out, your hands should be screened for infectious microbes after you have used the restroom. Explosive diarrhea can be a tremendous source of easily transmittable infections, and I would feel better if you could submit to this process to confirm that you scrupulously practice good hand hygiene.
ugh
You stated, “…I would not want a person with Hep C near me to begin with.” You should look at yourself and your own ignorance before accusing others of the same. Why should people living with one disease be treated differently than people living with your disease? That was the heart of my comment and I am happy to see that it hit home.
Your assumption that I do not live with a chronic illness that is killing me is WRONG. The difference between us is that whereas I feel compassion and unity with people suffering from disease you feel fear, hatred, and division. And that is bad for your health.
You are the one on the offensive here. I’m standing up for myself and won’t back down.
Compassion? By purporting that everyone who has hepatitis C is a drug user? And I am the one who is blatantly ignorant and lacks intelligent thought? People with hepatitis C are all around you. Did you ever have a blood transfusion before 1992? Or are you too saintly to have been hit by a drunk driver? Good for you then.
People with hepatitis C even provide your healthcare. Get over it.
No not personally. You’re implying that ALL healthcare workers (lets see, there are an estimated 18 million in the US) should be routinely checked when there have only been a few cases over the years of sick folks like this guy. So to spend all that money for routine testing on a population of people who know more about communicable diseases and the prevention of transmission isn’t practical. Your chances of winning the lottery are far greater than being taken care of by someone as sinister as this guy. Talk about a way to drive healthcare costs up! Not being thick, just not being paranoid.
That’s what you get when work is outsourced..
This guy needs to be locked up and the key thrown away.