NH hospital worker gets 39 years in hepatitis case
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A traveling medical technician has been sentenced to 39 years in prison for infecting dozens of patients in four states with hepatitis C through tainted syringes.
David Kwiatkowski was a cardiac technologist in 18 hospitals in seven states before being hired at New Hampshire’s Exeter Hospital in 2011.
The 34-year-old admitted stealing painkillers and replacing them with saline-filled syringes tainted with his blood.
Kwiatkowski had moved from job to job despite being fired at least four times over allegations of drug use and theft.
He pleaded guilty in August to 16 federal drug charges and was sentenced Monday in Concord, N.H.
Since his arrest last year, 46 people have been diagnosed with the same strain of hepatitis C he carries. The patients were in New Hampshire, Maryland, Kansas and Pennsylvania.