Plaintiffs v Rose Medical Center
Class Action Lawsuit Sought In Hep C Case
The first lawsuit is being filed in the Colorado Hepatitis C scare.
Bernadette Romero is the plaintiff in the case which names HealthOne and its former employee Kristen Parker as defendants. The suit is being filed in Denver District Court.
Romero said she had surgery at Rose Medical Center in Denver in February and recently received a letter advising her to be tested for Hepatitis C. She said she has been tested, but is still awaiting the results.
Parker is facing federal charges after admitting to switching her dirty needles with ones in hospital operating rooms to obtain the drug Fentanyl.
The lawsuit is asking the court to take over the supervision of the testing of patients to see if they have contracted Hepatitis C, which Parker was found to have tested positive.
Attorney Frank Azar told CBS4 News, "I've got people scared to death, literally scared to death. And it can't be left to large corporations to sit there determine how they are going to handle people they've injured."
The lawsuit asks the court to designate the estimated 4,700 people who underwent surgery at Rose while Parker worked there as a class in the lawsuit. The court is also being asked to make sure all members of that class are properly notified of the need for testing.
The suit claims Rose failed to conduct a reasonable background investigation of Parker and failed to protect patients from being infected from diseases as a result of activities of infected hospital personnel.
The CDC and the state are leading an investigation to see if any patient may have been exposed to the terminated employee. Until then, it is premature to ask about any individuals.
Up to 6,000 people may have been exposed to the blood-borne liver disease. Ten hepatitis C cases have been linked to Rose hospital.
For more information please contact:
Franklin D. Azar & Associates, P.C.
14426 East Evans Avenue
Aurora, CO 80014
Phone: (303) 757-3300
Fax: (303) 757-3206 / (303) 759-5203
http://www.fdazar.com/
