H o t z L a w y e r s | home
Air France Flight 358 | Avandia | Depo Provera | Evra | Ketek | Loblaws Hepatitis A | Korean Air price fixing | Maple Leaf Foods | Menu Foods | Mister Transmission | Mutual Funds Cases | Scarborough Hospital Hepatitis | Transport Canada, Canada Border Services Agency, BMW Canada Inc., Mercedes-Benz Canada Inc. and Mercedes-Benz USA LLC | Seven Oaks and Community Legionnaires' Disease | Sony BMG | Sun Wah Bean sprouts Salmonella | Sony BMG Settlement Approval | Sunrise Propane Explosion | Tequin Antibiotic | Western Students Salmonella Outbreak | Trasylol
Scarborough Hospital Hepatitis
For immediate release
Scarborough Hospital dialysis patients fight back
Class action lawsuit launched against The Scarborough Hospital
by dialysis patients who may have been infected with Hepatitis
TORONTO, ONTARIO - A class action lawsuit has been commenced against The Scarborough Hospital on behalf of dialysis patients who may have been infected with Hepatitis B and C.
On May 20, 2006, The Scarborough Hospital announced that there was an outbreak of Hepatitis B and C among its dialysis patients. Approximately 400 people who received dialysis at The Scarborough Hospital were notified by Toronto Public Health that they are at risk for contracting Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C.
The lawsuit alleges that The Scarborough Hospital, its staff and employees were negligent because, among other things, it failed to disinfect the equipment used in the dialysis unit, and it failed to implement adequate infection control and safety measures.
On May 23, 2006 Andrew Nosworthy of Scarborough, Ontario commenced a lawsuit on behalf of all dialysis patients who attended at The Scarborough Hospital for treatment. Unfortunately, Mr. Nosworthy died on May 25, 2006.
The plaintiff is represented by Harvey T. Strosberg, Q.C. of Sutts, Strosberg LLP, a Windsor, ON law firm and Glyn Hotz of Hotz Lawyers, a Toronto, ON law firm. Both law firms specialize in class action lawsuits.
Harvey T. Strosberg is one of Canada's leading counsel in class action lawsuits. He was one of the lead counsel in the Hepatitis-C class action against the federal government that resulted in a settlement of $1.1 billion for class members who were infected with Hepatitis-C - the largest in Canada's history.
Glyn Hotz is currently involved in prosecuting several high-profile class actions, including the Air France plane crash and the Seven Oaks action regarding the Legionnaires' Disease outbreak.
Mr. Strosberg said “A class action will determine whether The Scarborough Hospital is accountable and responsible for the outbreak of Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C.”
For further information, please visit http://www.hepatitisclassaction.com or contact:
Harvey T. Strosberg, Q.C. Glyn Hotz
Sutts, Strosberg LLP Hotz Lawyers
Tel: 519.561.6296 Tel: 416.590.7823
Fax : 519.561.6203 Fax : 416.785.7904
Website: http://www.strosbergco.com Website: http://www.hotzlawyers.com
If you or a family member has received correspondence from The Scarborough Hospital or Toronto Public Health in regard to the risk of exposure to Hepatitis through Dialysis treatment at The Scarborough Hospital or its satellite clinic on Corporate Drive, then please feel free to contact us by using the form below or call us.
H o t z L a w y e r s
|
|
 |
Toronto Public Health authorities have warned 400 Scarborough Hospital dialysis patients that they may be at risk of hepatitis infection and urged them not to share their toothbrushes or razors with family members, and to use condoms during sex.
Health officials are screening patients, staff and medical equipment after the Scarborough Hospital confirmed an outbreak of hepatitis B and C among its dialysis patients on May 19, 2006. Eight confirmed cases of Hepatitis have been found among almost 400 patients who receive dialysis treatments at the Scarborough Hospital and a satellite clinic on Corporate Drive.
No source of possible contamination has been identified, but officials are now taking many precautions, such as testing staff members and testing and retesting all of the dialysis patients.
"There are eight patients we are investigating with new infections," said Dr. Michael Finkelstein, an associate medical officer with Toronto Public Health. "Certainly I would classify that as a significant number, absolutely . . . in other hemodialysis units you can see, occasionally, a patient becoming positive, but even then they are not that common."
The hepatitis virus is carried in the blood, but can survive outside the body for days. It can pass between hosts through sex, intravenous needles -- and contaminated hospitals.
After officials determined the first individual was a dialysis patient at Scarborough Hospital, they probed deeper. The hospital had just gathered its annual blood samples, so public health authorities were poised to take a closer look, and when they did, they discovered the cluster.
A letter from Toronto Public Health says officials are "investigating a small number of patients in the hemodialysis program who have been diagnosed with hepatitis B and/or hepatitis C." The letter continues to say that the hospital detected the infections and that they "occurred in the past year."
Infection is a constant worry for all hemodialysis patients, who spend up to five hours a day, three times a week, having their blood pumped through plastic tubes and cleaning machines, in rooms full of other people with kidney disease getting the same treatment.
According to Dr. Gordon Nagai, who works in the Scarborough Regional Dialysis Program, the results are startling. "I think it's important to know this is the first time we've ever found anything in 10 years," Nagai said. "But clearly it's a very unusual circumstance, so we're quite concerned why something has changed." Nagai told CTV's Monica Matys that they are searching for the source of the infection. A staff member could be the source and the entire staff is being tested.
"Hepatitis is not a highly infectious disease," said John Plater, 38, the chair of the Ontario Hepatitis C Task Force. "That's why...in a hospital setting it should not be a risk at all with the proper control procedures ...we want people to go into a hospital and come out better, not come out with more diseases."
Hundreds of patients receiving dialysis treatment at The Scarborough Hospital are being tested for hepatitis after at least eight of them contracted the infectious disease. The Scarborough Hospital has confirmed that at least eight dialysis patients have contracted hepatitis B or C in a rare outbreak - and there may be more.
Eight of the roughly 400 patients who receive dialysis treatment contracted the illness, confirmed hospital officials.
Annual routine blood screening results among the hospital's dialysis patients started to come back with positive results in late April, spokesperson Natalie Chung Sayers said. The presence of the disease was detected during routine tests.
Hepatitis is a chronic illness that can lead to liver failure. It is spread when an infected person shares blood or body fluids with another person. Hepatitis B and C are viral diseases of the liver spread through contact with blood or body fluids. The disease can cause permanent liver damage.
It can be spread by sexual contact and even by sharing razors and toothbrushes, which therefore exposes family members of those infected to the risk of infection also.
Dialysis is a medical procedure conducted regularly on people whose kidneys have stopped working. It remove wastes and additional fluid from the blood circulating through the body.
"We're waiting to see what the results of those re-tests will be," said Dr. Hugh Scott, the CEO of The Scarborough Hospital.
No one yet knows when or how the infections occurred, or when new infections might show up. "It can take up to six months for some of these infections to be detectable in a lab sample," Dr. Finkelstein said.
"We don't know how this happened," said Sherian Mondesir, a spokeswoman for Scarborough Hospital.
Jay Wilson, head of the Patient Care Nephrology Program, stated that "The key thing is all the patients have been notified and we've been proactive in notifying them of the situation.”