State Report on Exeter Hepatitis C Disaster

State health officials on Friday released their final report on a disastrous hepatitis C outbreak at Exeter Hospital.

The outbreak happened last year. A hospital worker, David Kwiatkowski, was charged with spreading his hepatitis C to 32 patients by injecting himself with their medication to get high. The patients contracted the potentially deadly liver disease when those tainted needles were used on them, officials said.

Many of those patients had serious ailments before contracting hepatitis C. Dozens have sued the hospital for negligence.

Read the report in the PDF file at right

Another person contracted hepatitis C from one of the original 32 victims through sexual contact, officials announced earlier this month.

Kwiatkowski is currently sitting in jail awaiting a trial. He faces at least 98 years in prison. 

The investigation into the outbreak cost the state more than $384,000, according to the report. Officials said Exeter Hospital has expressed a willingness to pay that cost.

The outbreak was unprecedented for New Hampshire. More than 3,700 patients needed to be tested for possible exposure.

"The criminal actions of one individual are not reflective of the system as a whole," said state epidemiologist Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis. "The quality of healthcare in New Hampshire ... (but) the system is not perfect and requires both healthcare and public health to remain vigilant for ways to improve patient care.

"We have made a series of recommendations for other healthcare institutions on
how to possibly prevent such an outbreak in the future."

State health officials will hold a meeting Monday at Exeter High School at 6 p.m. to share the report with the public and answer their questions.

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