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UPMC Sued for Hepatitis Infection Linked to Rogue Med Tech

Monday, September 10, 2012 9:22

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(Before It's News)

It rhymed in a Beck song that questioned “Sexx Laws” on his R&B concept album “Midnight Vultures,” but it’s no joke. Hepatitis C is a virus that affects the liver and may go undetected for up to six months. Sometimes, symptoms of infection do not show up at all.

Unfortunately for Linda Ficken, she was diagnosed with Hepatitis C. She claims that she got the virus while she was a patient at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, according to Courthouse News Service. Ficken’s claim against the hospital comes after the arrest of med tech David Kwiatkowski, who is suspected of infecting syringes after he used them to inject himself with drugs.

Kwiatkowski allegedly worked at a series of hospitals across the country. But if it was Kwiatkowski who was allegedly responsible for the actions that infected people, why would the hospitals be involved?

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Hospitals, like other employers, can potentially be held liable for their employees’ actions. One legal theory that allows this is called respondeat superior, which basically means that the employer answers for the action of the employee. It’s a form of vicarious liability.

To recover under respondeat superior, a victim must show that the accident happened while the employee was performing work-related duties. However, if the employee was on break or not working that day, the employer will not be held liable.

Another way to recover under respondeat superior is if the employer was negligent in hiring the employee. In this situation, a victim can recover if she can show the employer should have run a background check or should otherwise have known about an employee’s criminal history.

Here, a respondeat superior case would likely fail because Kwiatkowski’s alleged drug use, and his alleged reuse of infected syringes on patients, most likely do not fall within the job description of a radiologic technician.

However, a claim for negligent hiring could potentially be successful because Kwiatkowski was discharged from multiple positions before landing at UPMC. Linda Ficken may be able to argue that had a proper background check been conducted, Kwiatkowski may not have been hired at all.

Ficken’s success depends on whether UPMC could actually have discovered Kwiatkowski’s wrongdoing by such actions. If you’ve been harmed by someone while that person was working, call a Philadelphia personal injury attorney to determine whether you can recover from the person’s employer as well.

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