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Former UPMC Employee Indicted For Spreading Disease

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A federal grand jury has indicted a former hospital worker suspected of spreading "Hepatitis C" to more than 30 people.

David Kwiatkowski is accused of stealing syringes of the powerful painkiller, Fentanyl, from patients scheduled for surgery at a hospital in New Hampshire.

The U.S. Attorney's office alleges Kwiatkowski injected himself with the drug, then refilled the syringes with saline.

Authorities say patients then received injections from the syringes, tainted with Kwiatkowski's infected blood.

He also worked as a lab technician at UPMC Presbyterian for a few months in 2008, though there's no word of anyone here being infected.

Kwiatkowski was fired when he tested positive for Fentanyl, but was not reported to police.

In September, a woman who contracted Hepatitis C from a hospital in Kansas sued UPMC for gross negligence, even though she did not contract the disease here.

Two more people filed suit in October.

RELATED LINKS
Hepatitis C Victims File Suit Against UPMC (10/1/2012)
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