Hepatitis Outbreak

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Tue, May 30, 2006

Plaintiff in hospital hepatitis suit dies
By ALAN CAIRNS, SUN MEDIA

TORONTO – A hepatitis outbreak that saw at least eight of 400 Scarborough Hospital dialysis patients test positive for the disease has sparked a class-action lawsuit.

But in a stunning development, the dialysis patient named as the sole plaintiff in the civil suit died from a heart attack last week - two days after the suit was filed.

Andrew Nosworthy, 40, of Scarborough, was one of about 400 dialysis patients in Scarborough Hospital when the first hepatitis case was discovered in a patient April 31.

A cluster of eight hepatitis infections - strains of both B and C - have been discovered.

Nosworthy was found dead in his home Thursday morning, said Toronto lawyer Glyn Hotz, who along with noted Windsor lawyer Harvey Strosberg, has filed a notice of action in Nosworthy’s case.

Hotz said Nosworthy had been a Scarborough Hospital dialysis patient for two years and had most recently entered the hospital for an operation on a broken knee May 15.

Hotz said Nosworthy had complained last week that hospital officials had to “contort his body” during dialysis treatments and “he was really uncomfortable … really in pain” from his knee operation.

Hotz said everyone is “speculating” whether Nosworthy suffered hepatitis-related liver failure, which led to heart failure.

He noted there was not an autopsy in Nosworthy’s death.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, plus recovery costs and legal bills.

The lawsuit noted that Toronto Public Health officials had warned patients that they should guard against any further spread of infection by having only protected sex.

The suit alleges that Scarborough Hospital was negligent because it failed to “disinfect and adequately maintain” machines and surfaces in the hemodialysis unit and failed to test staff and others in the hospital.

It is also alleged that the hospital either hired incompetent or poorly trained staff and failed to adequately train them.

2

I just wonder will this public media report be a an eye opener for other dialysis clinics…

On the other hand, careful monitoring for these problems in dialysis clinics is an integral part of monthly lab works no? Perhaps not all clinics are doing their job…hmmm

3

Hep C at hospital8 of 400 dialysis patients at Scarborough facility affected
By VIVIAN SONG, TORONTO SUN

Health officials are screening patients, staff and medical equipment after Scarborough Hospital confirmed an outbreak of hepatitis B and C among its dialysis patients yesterday.

Eight of the roughly 400 patients who receive dialysis treatment contracted the illness, confirmed hospital officials.

“The key thing is all the patients have been notified and we’ve been proactive in notifying them of the situation,” said Jay Wilson, head of the Patient Care Nephrology Program.

Officials stressed “there is no risk to the public at large,” since hepatitis is a viral infection of the liver that can only be transmitted by direct bodily fluid contact.

But that doesn’t appease victims of Canada’s tainted blood scandal like John Plater, who contracted hepatitis and HIV from contaminated blood products in the mid '80s.

“Hepatitis is not a highly infectious disease,” said Plater, 38, also the chair of the Ontario Hepatitis C Task Force. “That’s why…in a hospital setting it should not be a risk at all with the proper control procedures …we want people to go into a hospital and come out better, not come out with more diseases.”

Annual routine blood screening results among the hospital’s dialysis patients started to come back with positive results last month, spokesman Natalie Chung Sayers said. Blood screening involves analyzing all blood-borne viruses including HIV and hepatitis.

The hospital maintains they exceed recommended equipment upkeep guidelines outlined by the Canadian Society of Nephrology.

A spokesman for Toronto Public Health, meanwhile, said this type of outbreak is “not unusual” in a dialysis unit, considering the amount of contact with blood products.

The city’s public health is still awaiting blood sample results of remaining dialysis patients, but could not pin down a number.