Seven patients in northern Utah were infected with a rare strain of hepatitis C after a nurse with the disease allegedly injected herself with painkillers before administering the drugs to patients.
Elet Neilson was federally indicted Wednesday on eight counts of tampering with a consumer product and eight counts of fraudulently obtaining a controlled substance. Prosecutors allege Ms. Neilson diverted morphine and the painkiller dilaudid from two Utah hospitals while working as an emergency room nurse for Layton-based Davis Hospital and Medical Center from 2011 to 2013 and Ogden-based McKay-Dee Hospital from 2013 to 2014.
She potentially exposed as many as 7,200 patients to the hepatitis C genotype B, said health officials. The seven confirmed cases of hepatitis C all occurred at McKay-Dee Hospital. Health officials at both hospitals offered free hepatitis C testing to potentially exposed patients upon learning of the situation.
Ms. Neilson admitted to stealing drugs from both hospitals and surrendered her nursing license in November 2015. County prosecutors declined to charge her in connection to the hepatitis C outbreak, as local police concluded Ms. Neilson did not intentionally try to pass on the disease to patients.
The indictment comes as part of a national healthcare fraud crackdown by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force. The Department of Justice on Wednesday charged 412 defendants, including 115 physicians, nurses and other licensed medical professionals for their participation in healthcare fraud schemes.
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