OGH: hepatitis not connected to pens

OLEAN. N.Y. (WIVB) - Thirteen patients at Olean General Hospital have tested positive for hepatitis B or C, the question is where did they get it from?

Even though all of them were patients at one time, the hospital’s spokesman Dennis McCarthy claims the cases are not connected to the insulin pen health scare. Instead, he says hepatitis is a virus that exists in the community.

McCarthy said, “Two percent of the total population will test positive for hepatitis, that means if you test 500 people at least 20 are going to test positive.”

McCarthy says there is no documentation that shows a single patient received an insulin injection from another patient’s insulin pen. But last month, the hospital released a warning to more than 1,900 current or former patients, stating that the insulin they received might have come from pens used on multiple patients, which is against federal health guidelines.

McCarthy said, “We went forward to notify people because it was the right thing to do.”

Several of the Olean Hospital patients that tested positive for hepatitis have contacted the Brown Chiari law firm.

“Those that have tested positive for Hepatitis C, it is just increased. Hepatitis C is so dangerous, you are in danger of getting liver cirrhosis, you are in danger of dying or having to undergo a liver transplant,” said John Elmore, an attorney with Brown Chiari.

Elmore says he's been monitoring his clients medical records because he plans to file a lawsuit against the hospital. He says some of his clients didn't have hepatitis before they went to Olean General.

Here's what McCarthy had to say in response, “If someone says they didn't have it at a certain point or even think they had it again the disease can lie dormant unless they were tested for it at any time in their lives they may not know it.”

Olean Dr. Zia Sheikh has four patients who tested positive for Hepatitis C, three of which have been confirmed. All three patients got tested after being notified by the hospital that nurses had been using insulin pens on multiple patients. The hospital is now going through medical records and patient histories to pinpoint when and where they may have contracted the virus, according to Dr. Sheikh.

Attorneys for the patients also contend that by using insulin pens on multiple patients, the hospital disregarded federal guidelines that have been in place since 2009.