"regrettable" at the Mayo yesterday

[portann]

Ex-Mayo employee may be link to 3 cases of hepatitis


Source URL: http://jacksonville.com/news/health-and-fitness/2010-08-24/story/ex-mayo-employee-may-be-link-3-cases-hepatitis


By Steve Patterson

Three transplant patients at Mayo Clinic may have contracted hepatitis C from a Mayo employee who was fired Tuesday, the clinic reported Tuesday night.

The employee, a male radiology technologist, was fired after admitting to "diverting drugs," according to a written statement from the clinic.

A Mayo spokesman, Kevin Punsky, would not answer questions Tuesday but said a news conference is planned today to discuss details of the situation.

The three patients had all undergone invasive procedures at the clinic's interventional radiology unit, according to the clinic's written statement.

The clinic said it was contacting patients "who may be affected by this former employee's regrettable actions."

The statement said the technologist was considered a "possible source of transmission," and that he had been removed from contact with patients as soon the possibility of a link was recognized.





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[nygirl7]

this is getting more and more common isn't it?  I think really they should start drug testing people with access to the big injectible drugs as a regular part of a job description.  Shoot even at my job we have to pass a drug test before we can start and we are just a beauty industry company - a hospital should be more on top of these things you'd think.

Sorry that might come off as rather obnoxious but its getting out of hand and I bet there are more than 3 people.

[Diane12855]

No wonder that 15% of infected people don't know where they got if from! They probably got it from the very people that they trust their health to.

Nygirl7, you don't sound the least bit obnoxious... they really should do a MUCH better job of monitoring the people who stick needles in us.

This just REALLY PI*SES ME OFF!!!!!!!!

Diane

[Trinity4]

Off topic, apologize but I have to say it.

It is very tragic for those people who were exposed to hepc by that selfish idiotic tech.  Speaking of drug testing what really bothers me is many companies require drug testing as part of their protocol and our ability to make money hinges on the fact that we will not use drugs.  In many cases a positive drug test is grounds for dismissal.  However, all these people on welfare and unemployment are not subject to drug testing, checks in the mail every week and as far as welfare goes, we pay for it.  What's wrong with that standard?

Trinity

[nygirl7]

Exactly it's like the welfare thing even though that is off topic. As Diane said no wonder why so many people have this disease and have no reasonable clue as to the explanation of where they got it.  It is a damn shame (I was going to say sin but didn't want to get beaten over the head for the word ;) and these people should be punished and so should their medical facilities who allow such practices to go unnoticed. I mean jez don't they notice these techs walking around all whacked out?

[child24angel]

Horrible, and sinful !!!

[Diane12855]

I pulled up the article and then went to the news paper and low and behold, they gave the email address of the person who wrote the article. I sent him an email complaining about his only mentioning that people get hep c from IV drugs, which is in the part of the article that Susan didn't copy, and informed him of the other ways that people can be infected. Maybe if we could get a bunch of people to write to him he'd do some actual research and write a decent article on it. You never know.

Diane

[portann]

Thanks for that, Diane!

Can you copy and paste that part into the thread?

Has he replied yet?

Sleep well,

Susan

[jelise]

I guess it would just make too much sense to test people who handle narcotics - like doctors, pharmacists, nurses, and even cops.  Especially since these people hold our lives in their hands.  Let's just be sure to test those office workers!

[Diane12855]

Here is the last paragraph of that article... along with the email address.


Hepatitis C is an infection caused by a virus that can cause scarring of the liver and potentially liver cancer and other illnesses. Many people who use intravenous drugs have been infected with the hepatitis C virus.

steve.***@****, [phone]

[Diane12855]

No, I haven't gotten a reply to my email yet, but it was after business hours last night before I read the report and emailed him.

I forgot that email addresses don't show up on here. If you want to email the reporter, send me a message and I'll get the email address to you.

Diane

[Diane12855]

I got a reply to my email:

hank you for taking the time to write. I can understand your concern about giving a fully rounded explanation of the potential means of transmission. My paper is likely to be writing more about the situation at Mayo, and that will afford an opportunity to offer a fuller explanation.  
Your email mentioned the value of researching the disease before writing. I'm afraid the potential for meaningful research in the initial story was quite limited.
In this case, I learned about Mayo's situation around 10:15 p.m. Tuesday. To get the story into the morning paper, I wrote and filed the item you read in about 40 minutes. A good chunk of that time was used trying to reach someone from Mayo who would provide more details, as there were many unanswered questions sure to worry current and former Mayo patients. Not being a medical writer by background, I was focused on making sure very basic elements of the story were accurate.
I opted to mention IV drug use because the clinic's stated reason for firing this tech was that he had stolen drugs. His IV drug use (injecting himself with a patient's pain meds, then filling the syringe with saline and injecting the patient) in fact turned out to be the reason patients were infected.
I hope we can provide a fuller treatment of the potential for transmission in follow-up coverage. In the meantime, thank you again for reading and making the effort to get in touch.

Steve Patterson
Staff writer
The Florida Times-Union / Jacksonville.com
[phone]
steve.***@****

[meakea]

Sporadic transmission of Hep C is probably a much higher rate than the medical community will ever admit.  

By the way, what is the term used for Hep C that is acquired through some type of medical care?  The word escapes me...

[Diane12855]

The word for getting an infection while in the hospital is "nosochomial infection" Is that what you are thinking of?

Diane

[meakea]

Yes, Diane, I think that's what I was thinking of...thank you!

[Anne1717]

Well it is very likely that I was infected this past year via the medical community.  As I have previously posted, I have NO risk factors.  The only thing that happened during the 6 month window in which I was infected is, I had a growth removed form my back in a local hospital and I had a tetanus shot. A remote but possible exposure was giving blood to the Children's Hospital  - but it doesn't really fit into the time line as well as the others.

It is very scary and I bet if there was wide spread testing, they would find many more infected than they can imagine

[djandgerard]

hey i've been infected for over 10 years did tx and was ud after 4 wks i've been reading alot of post from other people and i'm finally feeling good that there are people sharing because i've been so computer itliterate that i didn't know where to talk about something i thought was no big deal  good to hear from u and others i'm not alone. not that i'm saying it's a good thing what has happened nobody diserves this i wish everyone one the best