Nebraska agency sued over NH hepatitis C outbreak

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- A man who believes he contracted hepatitis C from a traveling medical technician in New Hampshire is suing a Nebraska-based health staffing agency.

Robert Fowler of Seabrook was diagnosed with the blood-borne viral disease in June, 14 months after he underwent a cardiac catheterization at Exeter Hospital. Fowler was treated at the hospital's cardiac lab a month after it hired David Kwiatkowski, who was charged last week with federal drug crimes and accused of causing a hepatitis C outbreak that has infected 30 patients.

In a lawsuit filed Sunday in federal court in Nebraska, lawyer Domenic Paolini says Triage Staffing Inc. was negligent in hiring Kwiatkowski as a traveling technician and sending him to Exeter. Triage's president did not return calls seeking comment Friday or Monday.