Radiologic technologist David Kwiatkowski has been indicted in New Hampshire on charges of infecting patients with hepatitis C by allegedly taking the anesthetic fentanyl, intended for patients undergoing interventional radiology procedures, and diverting it for his own use.
Kwiatkowski was charged with seven counts of tampering with a consumer product and seven counts of obtaining controlled substances by fraud. He faces up to 10 years in prison for each tampering count, and up to four years in prison for each controlled-substances count. Each offense also is punishable by a fine of $250,000.
Kwiatkowski was arrested in July 2012 while working at Exeter Hospital in New Hampshire, which had experienced a mysterious outbreak of hepatitis C cases among patients treated in the hospital's interventional radiology unit. Investigators later connected Kwiatkowski to the Exeter cases, but also discovered that he had been fired from a number of other hospital jobs throughout the U.S. and is suspected of infecting patients in at least one state, Kansas.
The New Hampshire indictment claims that Kwiatkowski stole syringes of fentanyl, injected himself with the drug, and then replaced them with syringes filled with saline that were tainted with his hepatitis C-infected blood. The complaint also claims that Kwiatkowski knew he was infected with hepatitis C since at least June 2010; he began working at Exeter Hospital in April 2011.
Kwiatkowski was arraigned at a federal court in Concord on December 3 and pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to news coverage of the case. He is expected to go on trial in February.
