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By JAMES A. KIMBLE
Union Leader Correspondent
EXETER — Lawyers for Exeter Hospital have reached a settlement with a staffing agency that allegedly did not warn them about a former technician responsible for a widespread Hepatitis C outbreak.
The lawsuit the hospital filed against American HealthCare Systems was voluntarily dismissed on Tuesday, a last step that will bring end to a financial dispute between the two businesses.
The settlement will help pay legal settlements to 188 former patients. Last month, Robert Dewhirst, an attorney for the hospital, asked a judge for a brief delay in court proceedings because a tentative agreement had been reached with American HealthCare Systems.
Hospital lawyers are still awaiting a judge’s decision about whether a similar lawsuit against two other staffing agencies can continue.
Exeter Hospital filed a lawsuit in January 2014 against staffing agencies that they say are responsible for allowing former technician David Kwiatkowski to remain working in the medical field while knowing about his drug habit.
Lawyers for Triage Staffing Inc. and The American Registry of Radiologic Technologists asked a judge to dismiss the lawsuit.
Lawyers for the staffing agencies argued that there is no legal obligation to contribute to the 188 people because none of them tested positive for Hepatitis C.
Kwiatkowski began serving a 39-year prison term in December 2013 after pleading guilty to charges that he infected patients at Exeter Hospital between April 2011 and May 2012 through drug diversion. He spread hepatitis C to unwitting patients by injecting himself with the painkiller fentanyl then allowed the dirty needles to be used by patients.
Exeter Hospital paid settlements to 188 former patients who tested negative for the virus, and another 33 former patients who were infected by Kwiatkowski.
Exeter Hospital, like many, relies on third-party staffing agencies to identify and screen potential medical personnel to fill short-term vacancies, according to the lawsuit.
The hospital alleged that the staffing agencies violated its contractual duties by recommending Kwiatkowski. More than 3,000 former patients were tested after Kwiatkowski was arrested in 2012.
Kwiatkowski was fired or resigned from four Michigan health facilities between 2003 and 2007 amid investigations into his unlawful use of controlled drugs.
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