An investigation into a former Michigan health care worker -- charged with infecting at least 30 New Hampshire patients with hepatitis C, a chronic disease that causes liver failure -- triggered a public alert Monday from Michigan's health department for patients to be tested for the disease if they received injectable narcotic medicines when the man worked at four metro Detroit hospitals.
Michigan's health department said David Kwiatkowski, 32, worked at the hospitals in 2005-07. Kwiatkowski was employed from June-October 2005 at Sinai-Grace in Detroit and from October 2005-September 2006 at Harper University Hospital in Detroit. Both are part of the Detroit Medical Center. He also worked at the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor from Sept. 11-Dec. 8, 2006, and at Oakwood Annapolis Hospital in Wayne from Jan. 15-Sept. 15, 2007.
Patients who received injectable narcotics at these hospitals should contact them to be tested, said the Michigan Department of Community Health.
Kwiatkowski was employed by two other Michigan hospitals in 2003-05 but those facilities were excluded from further investigation after the health department found that Kwiatkowski was tested for hepatitis C there and found not to have it, the state health department said in a statement. It did not name the hospitals.
So far, there are no known Michigan cases tied to Kwiatkowski, who was indicted earlier this month in New Hampshire and who worked in at least eight hospitals in seven states. In New Hampshire, the indictment charges that he allegedly infected at least 30 people after he stole syringes of the pain killer Fentanyl, injected the drugs, then refilled the syringes with a liquid solution before returning them to hospital stock rooms.
Kwiatkowski was arrested July 19 at a Massachusetts hospital, six days after police found him in a hotel room scattered with prescription pills and an apparent suicide note, according to police in Marlborough, Mass.
Kwiatkowski is being held on federal drug charges in New Hampshire, while health authorities in seven states try to determine whether he spread the virus to others.
Michigan patients who received narcotic injections at the four metro Detroit hospitals while Kwiatkowski worked there should call the hospitals at the following numbers:
--Sinai-Grace and Harper: 888-300-3627.
--U-M: 877-233-4040.
--Oakwood Annapolis: 734-467-4111.
Kwiatkowski faces 20 years in prison if convicted on charges of tampering with a consumer product and four years if convicted of fraudulently obtaining controlled drugs. Each offense also is punishable by a $250,000 fine.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: YellowBrix
