Six years after the arrest of medical technician David Kwiatkowski, the legal fight against Exeter Hospital and its news-breaking hepatitis C virus (HCV) outbreak is finally coming to a close, ABC News reports.
The New Hampshire hospital is one step closer to holding others financially responsible for Kwiatkowski, who transmitted hepatitis C to dozens of patients in hospitals where he worked across multiple states. Kwiatkowski is currently serving 39 years in prison for charges related to the outbreak after he stole painkillers from several facilities and replaced them with saline-filled syringes exposed to his blood.
Although Exeter was Kwiatkowski’s last employer, the facility has long argued that it wasn’t the only hospital responsible. In fact, Kwiatkowski worked as a cardiac technologist in 18 hospitals in seven states before being hired by Exeter in 2011.
In the most recent development in Exeter’s legal battle, attorneys reached a settlement with Triage Staffing, one of the agencies that helped place Kwiatkowski at Exeter for employment despite his questionable record. The complaints against two other agencies involved with Kwiatkowski’s case were dismissed in 2014. If a judge approves the Triage settlement, Exeter will be one step closer to recouping some of the settlement money it was forced to pay to dozens of infected patients and nearly 200 who were not infected but claimed some harm.
If not, the case is set to go to trial early next year.
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