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By JAMES A. KIMBLE
Union Leader Correspondent
EXETER — A judge is being asked to deny Exeter Hospital’s request to revive its lawsuit against two staffing agencies that they allege were at fault for recommending a drug addicted technician who caused a hepatitis C outbreak.
The lawsuit was filed by Exeter Hospital in January 2014 to recoup legal settlements paid to the 188 former patients tested in the wake of David Kwiatkowski’s arrest for infecting patients through drug diversion. The former technician infected 32 patients between April 2011 and May 2012.
Lawyers for the staffing agencies say the hospital had no legal obligation to settle claims with 188 patients who tested negative for hepatitis C. That conclusion was also reached by a judge earlier this month in U.S. District Court.
Lawyers for Triage Staffing Inc. and The American Registry of Radiologic Technologists are now hoping that the judge’s ruling stands. Lawyers for the hospital were allowed to argue why the lawsuit should be able to continue.
But Judge Steven McAuliffe noted the lawsuit failed to show how each of the 188 patients were exposed to the hepatitis C virus. He concluded that hospital lawyers also failed to allege that any of the patients were exposed to the virus.
William Smart, a lawyer for Triage, echoed those sentiments in a court motion filed on Monday, saying that the hospital must be able to demonstrate how each patient suffered from Kwiatkowski’s actions.
“It has not done so,” Smart said in the motion. Smart also argued that no reasonable jury could conclude that Exeter Hospital had any risk of legal exposure from the patients who tested negative for the virus. The outbreak prompted state officials to test more than 3,000 patients total.
Kwiatkowski is serving a 39-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to charges that he infected patients at Exeter Hospital. He worked in approximately 19 hospitals throughout the country before coming to Exeter Hospital in 2011.
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