Washington State Hospital Warns Patients of Possible Hep C Exposure

A nurse in a Washington state hospital may have infected two patients with hepatitis C, with another 2,600 patients possibly exposed to the disease over an eight-month period.

According to the Tacoma News Tribune, MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup, Wash., is notifying patients treated in its emergency room from August 4, 2017 to March 23, 2018 of the potential exposure and advising them to get tested. The patients in question received injections of drugs, antihistamine, or sedatives.

The nurse, who no longer works for MultiCare, was allegedly removing large amounts of narcotics from the facility’s dispensing system and admitted to diverting medications meant for patients, the News Tribune reported. The nurse tested positive for hepatitis C in and treated two patients in December who contracted the disease.

A MultiCare spokesperson said there was no evidence the nurse infected the patients, but the patients she treated were not at risk for hepatitis C, which is usually transmitted through exposure to an infected person’s blood via shared needles. MultiCare said the number of patients notified is less than 5% of the 54,000 patients treated in the ER during that eight-month period.

“We deeply value the trust of our community, and apologize for the worry this will create. We have taken extensive measures to identify anyone who may have been at risk for exposure, out of interest for the health and safety of our patients and the community,” said Chris Bredeson, MultiCare’s president and chief operating officer, in a statement. “We remain committed to the highest standards of patient care and are working to make sure the affected patients are supported and have the information they need.”