Hep C Infection, and Death, Prompts Suit

A widow has announced that she will be filing a lawsuit against the Jacksonville Mayo Clinic for the hepatitis C infection her husband acquired there during two liver transplant surgeries, that allegedly led to his death, as reported by the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville.

Peggy Wolford's husband, Dennis, 61 at the time of his death in September of 2008, had his first liver transplant in 2006 and the second in 2008, both were performed at the Mayo Clinic.

Lawyers for Wolford notified hospital officials on November 9 of her intention to file the medical malpractice suit. 

This past August the hospital revealed that it had infected at least three patients with hepatitis C when one of their own radiology technicians - that was infected - handled the syringes used for their injections.

The technician didn't stop there.  He injected himself with the patient's painkillers and refilled empty syringes with saline - which created a way to spread the disease.

The employee, Steven Beumel, has since been fired by the hospital and criminally charged with obtaining, or attempting to obtain, a controlled substance.

Tests show that Dennis Wolford didn't have hepatitis C before his first transplant.  But after he began suffering from complications afterwards, and another test was given in the early part of 2007, the infection was discovered.

Peggy Wolford, flanked at a conference table by her attorneys, Frank Ashton and Marc Hardesty, said, "They did tell us it wasn't from the organ and it wasn't from blood work.  We knew he got it from Mayo Clinic but we didn't know how."

The three patients that the hospital originally referred to did not include Wolford.  The announcement referred to one that died that had a genetic match to the fired worker's infection, one died from cancer, and one was still living. 

By September the hospital had begun to send more letters - there were now 3,000 patients that Beumel came into contact with that had to be tested for hepatitis C.

Nurses allegedly told Wolford's widow that the hospital was testing employees to determine who had been involved with his care and might be responsible for the infection.  But, though her husband was angry, he was compelled to seek a second surgery at the Clinic as "they were the only game in town."

He died seven months later at home.

Wolford's widow, the couple had been married 29 years, has had to sell her home and declare bankruptcy. Her attorneys are seeking significant monetary damages; the exact number has not been reported.

Ashton believes that Beumel's hepatitis will match the strain of Wolford. The Mayo Clinic has not released the information yet. 

Another question Ashton has raised was why a radiology technician had access to narcotics and was administering them to patients. Another client of Ashton's, and a patient at Mayo, reportedly witnessed Beumel injecting medication into her own I.V. 

Kevin Punsky, Mayo Clinic spokesperson, claims that the former tech did not inject patients.  He further released a statement from the hospital to express sympathy for Mrs. Wolford's loss.

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