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Former Employee Of Exeter Hospital
Indicted In Connection With Hepatitis C
OutbreakFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASENovember 29, 2012
CONCORD, N.H. David M. Kwiatkowski, 33, a former employee of
Exeter Hospital, has beenindicted for his alleged role in causing
the Hepatitis C outbreak that infected patients in NewHampshire as
well as other states, announced United States Attorney John P.
Kacavas.
Kwiatkowski has been charged with seven counts of tampering with
a consumer product andseven counts of obtaining controlled
substances by fraud. The charges relate to suspected theftsof the
controlled substance fentanyl, a powerful anesthetic used in
various medicalprocedures. In addition to stealing fentanyl and
depriving patients in his care of the intendedanalgesic effect of
the drug, Kwiatkowski allegedly caused over 30 individuals in
NewHampshire and elsewhere to become infected with Hepatitis C, a
blood-borne virus that cancause serious damage to the liver.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC),
Hepatitis C causes more deaths annually in the United States than
HIV.
According to the indictment, Kwiatkowski was employed for
several years as a health careworker in Michigan. Beginning in
2007, he became a traveling health care technician, employed
in various states, including New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland,
Arizona, Kansas, Georgia, andNew Hampshire.
The indictment alleges that Kwiatkowski was infected with
Hepatitis C and that he was awarethat he carried the disease since
at least June of 2010. He began working at Exeter Hospital inApril
of 2011.
The indictment alleges that Kwiatkowski devised a scheme to
obtain fentanyl for his personaluse and abuse. He is charged with
surreptitiously taking syringes of fentanyl, prepared andintended
for patients scheduled to undergo a medical procedure, and
replacing them withsyringes that he had previously stolen and
filled with saline. Kwiatkowski used the stolensyringes to inject
himself, causing them to become tainted with his infected blood,
before fillingthem with saline and then replacing them for use in
the medical procedure. Consequently,instead of receiving the
prescribed dose of fentanyl, patients instead received saline
tainted byKwiatkowskis infected blood. Kwiatkowski, on the other
hand, would inject himself with thefentanyl dose prescribed for the
patient but secreted from the procedure.
The patients who received the tainted saline thus were exposed
to Kwiatkowskis Hepatitis Cvirus. The indictment alleges that more
than 30 people in New Hampshire and elsewhere have
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become infected with the same strain of Hepatitis C carried by
Kwiatkowski.
Kwiatkowski was arrested on July 19, 2012, in Massachusetts. He
thereafter was transported toNew Hampshire where he has remained in
custody.
If convicted on the pending charges, Kwiatkowski faces up to ten
(10) years in prison foreach count of tampering with a consumer
product and up to four (4) years in prison for eachcount of
obtaining controlled substances by fraud. Each offense also is
punishable by a fine of$250,000.00 and a term of supervised release
following any sentence of imprisonment.
This investigation, which remains active and ongoing, has
involved the cooperativeefforts of federal, state, and local law
enforcement entities, including the Federal Bureau ofInvestigation,
the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health
and HumanServices, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Office of
Criminal Investigations of the Foodand Drug Administration, the
Office of Inspector General of the Department of Veterans
Affairs,the New Hampshire Attorney Generals Office, the New
Hampshire State Police, and the Exeter,
New Hampshire Police Department. Assistance also has been
provided by the New HampshireDrug Task Force, the Marlborough,
Massachusetts Police Department, the Boxborough,Massachusetts
Police Department, and the United States Attorneys Office in the
District ofMassachusetts.
A COMPLAINT/INDICTMENT is merely an allegation and a defendant
is presumed
innocent unless and until proven guilty.
