I am one of those patients who was infected with the Hepatitis C virus during a routine surgical procedure at Rose Medical Center because a drug addict was allowed to switch a needle on my surgical tray, a needle filled with saline instead of the pain medication I was prescribed.
Look at my hospital bill and you will see that I paid $89.25 for that vial of fetanyl — which wasn’t fetanyl at all.
Ask people on the street about Hepatitis C and they can’t tell you much about the disease. Odd, since Hepatitis C infects millions more people in the United States than does HIV.
But not unlike HIV, many people are infected with Hepatitis C and they do not even know it. Take a look at Rose Medical Center statistics: About 4,700 patients were urged to be tested after possibly coming in contact with Kristen Parker. Seventy of them were found to have Hepatitis C. The Department of Justice said that 35 cases were traced to Parker. That means 35 others who tested positive for the virus were not connected to Parker.
Think about it: About half of the people found to have Hepatitis C because of this case may have had no idea they had the virus.
Hepatitis C accounts for nearly 12,000 deaths each year and can lead to years of debilitating symptoms and costly treatments with harsh side effects.
How do we change these atrocities? How do we ensure patient safety? How do we save thousands of people from having to struggle with this disease and its long-term effects of liver disease, cirrhosis and the need for a transplant and worse?
Something needs to be done. More testing, stricter oversight and procedures, single-use syringes, education and the ability to lift the stigma of the disease. We have to spread the word faster than the virus. We have to educate as we have with HIV and make people aware.
What have we learned from this outbreak and what changes have been made? If Rose Medical Center supposedly had all the policies and procedures in place to keep us safe, how did this happen? How was it so easy for a surgical scrub tech to not only divert drugs but also infect so many unsuspecting surgery patients?
The system was broken and failed not only me, but everyone with whom Kristen Parker came into contact, including fellow hospital employees and several thousand patients.
I wish this were an isolated incident. I wish I could say that with some tightening up of hospital and clinic protocols we can all be safe. Unfortunately, it is not so simple. Over the past 10 years, there have been more than 40 such incidents.
Join the cause by speaking out if you are infected, ask questions if you are unaware, donate so more people can be tested, seek the support you may need from others who understand what you are going through.
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Lauren Lollini (lauren@ ) is a licensed therapist in Denver.
