Salem Hospital faces lawsuit after hundreds of patients possibly exposed to HIV, hepatitis

An Amesbury woman is suing Salem Hospital after she and hundreds of other patients may have been exposed to hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV during a medical imaging procedure.

Keches Law Group has filed a class action lawsuit against Mass General Brigham, Salem Hospital and 10 hospital employees on behalf of plaintiff Melinda Cashman, a resident of Amesbury whom the firm says “suffered permanent injuries, additional testing requirements, extreme anxiety, emotional distress, and decreased quality of life due to potential exposure to these infections.”

Hospital officials revealed on Wednesday that roughly 450 patients receiving an endoscopy between June 2021 and April 2023 were potentially exposed during the administration of IV medications “in a manner not consistent with our best practice.”

Keches Law, in a release, highlighted that the hospital recently notified Cashman about the situation and that “she would need to undergo testing, screening and an evaluation to determine whether she was infected, a process that could take months or even years. As a result, she will continue to suffer severe emotional distress and mental anguish.”

Attorneys representing Cashman and “others similarly situated” are seeking “answers and assurances” as to how and why the incidents took place over “an extended period of time,” and that “this will never happen to these or any other patients again.”

“The hospital is a place you go to heal. It’s an institution that you put your complete trust in,” attorney Jeff Catalano said in a statement. “For Melinda and all the other victims, what they need now is to see some responsibility taken, so they can all move on, and this kind of thing cannot happen again.”

A news conference is scheduled for this afternoon at 3 at Keches Law’s Milton office.

A statement from the hospital highlighting the development on Wednesday did not provide details on how the exposure may have occurred and how it was corrected. Officials have remained mum about specifics since.

After becoming aware of the issue earlier this year, officials said they fixed the practice and notified its quality and infection control teams.

“Salem Hospital has notified all potentially impacted patients, set up a clinician-staffed hotline to answer questions, and we are providing them with free screening and any necessary support,” officials said in a statement. “There is no evidence to date of any infections resulting from this incident.”

The hospital has been working with the state Department of Public Health in managing the situation, with the department conducting an onsite investigation.

A department spokesperson told news outlets that the department also advised the hospital “to offer free-of-charge follow-up care, including testing.”

The tests being offered are “standard tests for an exposure of this kind because they are common blood-borne pathogenic viruses that often don’t produce symptomatic infection,” a hospital spokesperson said.

Mass General Brigham owns Salem Hospital.

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