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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.