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October 04. 2012 9:18PM
Plaintiff says Exeter Hospital is delaying hepatitis C lawsuit
BRENTWOOD — Lawyers for a former Exeter Hospital patient suing after allegedly contracting hepatitis C from accused “serial infector” David Kwiatkowski are fighting the hospital's attempt to delay the case.
Manchester attorneys Mark Abramson and Jared Green filed a motion Tuesday objecting to a request by the hospital to temporarily halt discovery in the suit brought by a 59-year-old mother and soon-to-be grandmother identified only as Jane A. Doe.
The hospital wants to delay discovery — a time when evidence can be collected through interviews and other documents — until next year.
“Time is on the hospital's side. It wants to hold onto its money as long as possible. Time is not on the plaintiff's side. She has a life-threatening disease because Exeter Hospital allowed a drug addict to roam free in the cardiac catheterization lab, stealing fentanyl and infecting patients without even the most basic safeguards in place,” the motion said.
The woman is one of 32 patients believed to have been infected when Kwiatkowski worked as a medical technician and allegedly used syringes with the painkiller fentanyl and later returned them to be used on patients.
Kwiatkowski also worked at hospitals in at least seven other states, was fired from some and continued to be hired at others, and may be responsible for infecting four patients from a Kansas hospital, officials have said.
Exeter Hospital faces 25 lawsuits brought by former patients. In its request to delay discovery, the hospital's lawyers said in their motion they want to consolidate the cases for discovery, arguing it would “make little sense to require the hospital's CEO or any other witness to be deposed 25 times, or to require the defendants to respond to duplicative discovery requests in 25 different cases. Such duplication would be wasteful and burdensome to both the defendants and the individual witnesses.”
But the patient's lawyers said that because her interrogatories and document requests were the first received out of the 25 cases, there's “no reason” why the hospital can't respond to the requests and then use the answers for the other cases.
The hospital also claims more time is needed because the patient added other defendants to the case, including Triage Staffing Inc., a Nebraska company that hired Kwiatkowski and is accused of placing him in Exeter Hospital; the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists; and American Healthcare Services Association, which had a contract with Triage Staffing that allowed Kwiatkowski to be placed at the hospital, according to court documents.
Lawyers for the patient insist that the addition of the other defendants “does not explain why the hospital cannot answer the plaintiff's written discovery requests.”
In addition, the hospital argues that it would be premature to begin discovery before both sides have had an opportunity to explore a settlement in the case.
Mediation was scheduled for Thursday, but the hospital's lawyers cancelled it because they claim they didn't have all of the victim's treatment records “to evaluate the extent of her alleged injuries.” The patient's lawyers said she gave the hospital's lawyers signed authorizations in September allowing access to the records they wanted from a Boston specialist.
“The court should not allow the hospital to further delay the resolution of this case by staying discovery until 2013 in the false hope that it will lead to a mediated settlement. The most likely result would be a lowball offer at mediation and another waste of precious months,” the patient's motion said.
jschreiber@newstote.com
Manchester attorneys Mark Abramson and Jared Green filed a motion Tuesday objecting to a request by the hospital to temporarily halt discovery in the suit brought by a 59-year-old mother and soon-to-be grandmother identified only as Jane A. Doe.
The hospital wants to delay discovery — a time when evidence can be collected through interviews and other documents — until next year.
“Time is on the hospital's side. It wants to hold onto its money as long as possible. Time is not on the plaintiff's side. She has a life-threatening disease because Exeter Hospital allowed a drug addict to roam free in the cardiac catheterization lab, stealing fentanyl and infecting patients without even the most basic safeguards in place,” the motion said.
The woman is one of 32 patients believed to have been infected when Kwiatkowski worked as a medical technician and allegedly used syringes with the painkiller fentanyl and later returned them to be used on patients.
Kwiatkowski also worked at hospitals in at least seven other states, was fired from some and continued to be hired at others, and may be responsible for infecting four patients from a Kansas hospital, officials have said.
Exeter Hospital faces 25 lawsuits brought by former patients. In its request to delay discovery, the hospital's lawyers said in their motion they want to consolidate the cases for discovery, arguing it would “make little sense to require the hospital's CEO or any other witness to be deposed 25 times, or to require the defendants to respond to duplicative discovery requests in 25 different cases. Such duplication would be wasteful and burdensome to both the defendants and the individual witnesses.”
But the patient's lawyers said that because her interrogatories and document requests were the first received out of the 25 cases, there's “no reason” why the hospital can't respond to the requests and then use the answers for the other cases.
The hospital also claims more time is needed because the patient added other defendants to the case, including Triage Staffing Inc., a Nebraska company that hired Kwiatkowski and is accused of placing him in Exeter Hospital; the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists; and American Healthcare Services Association, which had a contract with Triage Staffing that allowed Kwiatkowski to be placed at the hospital, according to court documents.
Lawyers for the patient insist that the addition of the other defendants “does not explain why the hospital cannot answer the plaintiff's written discovery requests.”
In addition, the hospital argues that it would be premature to begin discovery before both sides have had an opportunity to explore a settlement in the case.
Mediation was scheduled for Thursday, but the hospital's lawyers cancelled it because they claim they didn't have all of the victim's treatment records “to evaluate the extent of her alleged injuries.” The patient's lawyers said she gave the hospital's lawyers signed authorizations in September allowing access to the records they wanted from a Boston specialist.
“The court should not allow the hospital to further delay the resolution of this case by staying discovery until 2013 in the false hope that it will lead to a mediated settlement. The most likely result would be a lowball offer at mediation and another waste of precious months,” the patient's motion said.
jschreiber@newstote.com
