Audubon surgery center sued over hepatitis C scare
Three El Paso County residents have sued a Colorado Springs surgery center alleging negligence for hiring a former scrub technician who put patients at risk of contracting hepatitis C.
Connie R. Schumaker, Doris D. Priest and Danielle Campos on behalf of her son Dillon filed the lawsuit on June 21 in 4th Judicial District Court against the Audubon Ambulatory Surgery Center of Colorado Springs and Kristen Diane Parker.
Parker, who contracted hepatitis C from heroin use, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Denver to swapping dirty needles for syringes full of a powerful painkiller while she worked at Rose Medical Center in Denver and later at Audubon. She was sentenced in February to 30 years in prison.
Following Parker’s arrest, several thousand patients at both hospitals had to undergo testing and 35 patients at Rose were found to be infected. Audubon officials reported in October that none of their patients had contracted the disease from Parker.
However, the three patients who filed the lawsuit did not allege they were infected, but rather that they suffered emotional distress and embarrassment as a result of Audubon’s negligence in hiring Parker after she had been fired at Rose.
A spokesman for Audubon could not immediately be reached for comment.
The lawsuit is the second against Audubon stemming from the case. Betty B. Montoya, an El Paso County woman who underwent retina surgery at Audubon during the period when Parker worked there, filed a similar lawsuit in September 2009.
The two sides in that suit reached a confidential out-of-court agreement and the case against Audubon was dismissed on June 18. That suit also resulted in a default judgment of $350,000 against Parker.
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