Bill seeks to end hepatitis C registry
CONCORD, N.H. – The medical technician who drew blood from New Hampshire Rep. Peter Schmidt after he broke his leg in February was registered with the state, thanks to a 2014 law enacted after a traveling medical technician infected dozens of people with hepatitis C.
But by the time Schmidt was back on his feet, colleagues had hijacked his bill aimed at improving the registry. House lawmakers passed a bill last month eliminating the registration requirement altogether, and Schmidt is now urging senators to reject it.
“Please do not pass this, this is a terrible idea,” Schmidt said. “I think we need to continue to register these medical technicians, otherwise we are opening ourselves up to a potential repeat of the Exeter experience.”
New Hampshire created the Board of Registration for Medical Technicians in response to David Kwiatkowski, who is serving 39 years in prison for stealing painkillers and replacing them with saline-filled syringes tainted with his blood.
At the time, officials hoped the board would become a model for other states, but that hasn’t happened. And those who want to ditch it say it creates unnecessary bureaucracy at a time when health care facilities are struggling to hire workers.
“The actions of one bad actor, however heinous, are not reason to require thousands of technicians to register and pay fees,” said Rep. Carol Mcguire, Repsom, when the House passed the bill last month.
But Linda Ficken, a Kansas woman who contracted hepatitis C from Kwiatkowski in 2011, said she believes any medical worker with access to drugs should be registered and should undergo frequent drug testing.
“Every time I go into the hospital, I can’t help but wonder, is this a repeat?” she said. “Cured or not, the thoughts and anxiety are still there.”
Despite being fired numerous times over drug allegations, Kwiatkowski had worked in 18 hospitals in seven states before being hired at Exeter Hospital in New Hampshire. After his arrest in 2012, 46 people in four states were diagnosed with the same strain of the hepatitis C virus he carries, including one who died in Kansas.
In all, 32 patients were infected in New Hampshire, seven in Maryland, six in Kansas and one in Pennsylvania. Kwiatkowski also worked in Michigan, New York, Arizona and Georgia.
The registry New Hampshire eventually created applies to all health care workers who are not otherwise already licensed or registered and have access to both patients and drugs. Hospitals are required to report disciplinary actions to the board, which also investigates complaints and takes disciplinary action.
In the decade before Kwiatkowski’s arrests, similar hepatitis C outbreaks had been traced to other hospital technicians in Texas, Colorado and Florida, and CDC officials said at the time that the Kwiatkowski case highlighted a problem that was a growing concern across the public health system.