Lawsuit Filed In Salem Hospital Possible HIV, Hepatitis Exposure Case

SALEM, MA — An Amesbury woman has filed a class action lawsuit against Salem Hospital, Mass Brigham Hospital and 10 hospital employees after she said she was one of more than 400 patients hospital officials said may have been exposed to hepatitis and HIV because of improper intravenous medication procedures over two years.

Keches Law Group said it filed the lawsuit on behalf of Melinda Cashman, who said she has suffered permanent injuries, been subject to additional testing requirements, has extreme anxiety, emotional distress and decreased quality of life because of the error.

Hospital officials said in a statement issued to Patch on Thursday that once the protocol error was identified it was corrected and all patients potentially exposed were contacted and provided with free screenings for the viruses and support.

Salem Hospital is a part of the Mass General Brigham system.

(Also on Patch: Salem Hospital IV Error May Have Exposed Hundreds To HIV, Hepatitis)

"After a comprehensive review, including feedback from public health officials at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, we have determined that the infection risk to patients from this event is extremely small," officials said in the statement to Patch. "There is no evidence to date of any infections resulting from this incident."

Keches Law Attorney Jonathan Sweet said Cashman and other patients were affected by the procedural errors as a result of "years of negligence" and that Cashman and other patients "had to face the possibility of a life-changing condition because of the hospital's carelessness."

"We want victims of this tragedy to know that we are fighting for them and that the people who wronged them need to be held accountable," Sweet said.

Keches Law said in a Friday statement that the goal of the lawsuit is to "hold the institution that so badly failed its patients accountable for their actions" and to obtain "answers as to how and why this happened for such an extended period of time and why it took so long for the hospital to discover such a catastrophic and ongoing mistake," along with "assurances that this will never happen to these or any other patients again."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)