Attorney: Salem Hospital patients should use caution when testing after potential HIV and hepatitis exposure
SALEM – Roughly 450 Salem Hospital patients were alerted that they may have been exposed to hepatitis and HIV – a problem that lasted for two years before it was corrected.
Endoscopy patients were getting intravenous medication "in a manner not consistent with our best practice," a spokesperson for Salem Hospital said.
"It's very surprising to see this scope of falling below what would be considered the standard of care," said Michael Walsh, a trial attorney for Altman Nussbaum Shunnarah.
Walsh told WBZ-TV that patients who were notified should get tested right away, but when you get to the hospital, be aware of what you're signing.
"Certainly there's going to have to be some sort of consent to get the testing, but what you don't want to do is sign anything to release a hospital or any institution of liability should it happen that you were infected by these practices," Walsh explained.
Salem Hospital said patients were potentially exposed to Hepatitis B and C and HIV, but didn't explain how this could've happened.
The hospital called in state public health officials and determined that "the infection risk to patients from this event is extremely small," the hospital wrote in a statement.
If you do test positive, Walsh suggests calling an attorney.
"An attorney is going to be able to figure out what went wrong here," Walsh said. "Certainly, there's very little information that I've seen as to what went wrong and getting that expertise from an attorney who is going to be able to dig into what happened here is going to be crucial in figuring out if there was medical malpractice involved."
He added that details matter. Even those who tested negative could have a case on their hands.
"It comes down to whether the hospital has violated the standard of care and whether there was any type of medical malpractice for that sort of recoverability," said the malpractice lawyer.
The patients who may have been affected have been notified, so if you haven't – there's no reason to worry.
Salem Hospital is offering free testing to impacted patients.