Hospital-Acquired Hepatitis C After Crohn’s Disease: Claiming Compensation

On July 2003 P.V. discovers that he suffers from a disabling pathology, Crohn's disease, which forces him to several drug treatments and repeated hospitalizations to keep the disease under control. During one of these hospitalizations, the unfortunate discovers that he also has hepatitis.

A boy with many prospects, study and income in front of him. With the possibility of making a career and not depriving himself of any chance. He had endured with great patience the diagnosis of a bad affliction of the intestine, which would bring him to the brink of disability, thinking that he could cure himself and make up for lost time. But this latest news catches him unprepared and plunges him into despair.

Crohn's disease is a very serious inflammation of the intestinal tract that involves a radical change in habits in a person's life. In severe cases where adjusting nutrition and regulating a healthier lifestyle have no effect, it is necessary to intervene with the administration of drugs and, ultimately, with the surgical removal of compromised intestinal traits.

It is possible to understand how distressed P.V. faced the future that awaited him, dotted with shelters and hopes. Yes, because from the first hospitalization he placed his trust in the doctors who would take him into treatment, and he crossed the threshold of the hospital in Bari keeping in his hand the certificate that sanctioned the explanation of those strong abdominal cramps, and in the heart the hope that the drugs would solve the problem.

In the hospital, after a series of investigations that had excluded worse diseases of the abdominal organs, the boy is taken care of with the diagnosis of "Crohn's disease" with the prescription of a future clinical-therapeutic revaluation.

Lawyer for compensation claims due to hepatitis contracted in hospital

However, worsening the situation, doctors carry out further investigations and identify the presence of hepatitis C antibodies, diagnosing it in an acute phase.

Having never discovered, in his history, any link between his conduct or other situations and the onset of liver disease, the boy begins to cultivate the belief that this disease was due to negligence of the health personnel.

Concern swirls among family members. What will happen now, can this boy already tried by the disease, be able to live a normal life? Of course, the answer is difficult for it to come from optimism and they are all inclined to see any future chances of P.V. to be happy very thinned.

Hepatitis can easily degenerate into serious and highly compromising diseases, as well as the difficulty of relating to other people who, if they are aware of the situation, could drive them away or hold them responsible for inappropriate behaviour as a cause of hepatitis, a disease often associated with alcohol or drug abuse.

For this reason, the patient turned to a lawyer to explore the feasibility of a legal action to obtain compensation for damages.

Medical malpractice: patient with Crohn’s Disease contracts hepatitis in hospital

Sure enough, P.V.'s clinical situation worsens as a result of the new diagnosis. Forced to take powerful drugs to control the proliferation of hepatitis antibodies and the progress of Crohn's disease, P.V. soon finds itself facing new discomfort.

During a day at the hospital, in-depth examinations reveal that the boy is also losing his hearing. And what's worse, incipient deafness affects both ears and is medium to severe, going to get worse precisely because it's related to taking a particular interferon-based therapy.

His trusted lawyer advises him to take action against the Hospital Company to obtain compensation for all the damages he is suffering as a result of their incompetence. Examining the documentation, it emerges in all its desperate clarity that hepatitis is a direct consequence of colonoscopy.

Unsafe colonoscopy: the case of hepatitis and victory in court

His legal team advised him to sue the hospital to obtain compensation for all the damages he was suffering due to their negligence.

Upon reviewing the documentation, it became tragically clear that the hepatitis was a direct consequence of the colonoscopy.

The expert highlights poor hygiene of the instruments used

It is not easy to prove this argument. First of all, P.V., through its lawyer, equips itself with a technical report able to confirm that the cause of its damage lies in the incompetence and negligence of the staff who carried out the diagnostic assessment.

It is one of the prerequisites for taking action against hospitals: the patient acting in Court must prove the failure of the health care provider, demonstrating that the pathology has arisen due to his negligent or omissive behavior.

The expertise contains a very specific concept: the tools used to perform colonoscopy, in particular the channel that fits into the intestine, which is most subjected to biological pollution, have not been adequately disinfected before use.

In fact there is no definite evidence, no one has been able to analyze the instruments and detect the presence of infectious agents, but for the consultant, the date of contagion with the hepatitis virus is compatible with the date of the endoscopic intervention, based on some elements such as the onset of acute hepatitis, and the lack of exposure to other risk factors during the incubation period of infection.

Given the absence of certainty, the Hospital tries to defend itself by stating that at the time of the first hospitalization the infection had already occurred even if blood tests had excluded the presence of the antibody.

Judge condemns hospital: hepatitis contracted during colonoscopy

Fortunately, the judge accepts P.V.'s defense arguments and condemns the hospital facility. According to Court’s thesis, the patient and the hospital enter into agreement under the rules of providing professional work and the manager of the health facility must be held liable for the damage caused to the patient by health treatments carried out with fault.

Moreover, the structure is obliged to pay extensive compensation damages for the defaulting behavior of the doctor.

Transmission of the hepatitis virus by skin contact with undy sterilized objects is much less rare than one might think. Far from being the treatment invasive to be dangerous, as colonoscopy or dental interventions, since medical studies frequently report cases in which the infection has penetrated the body through scissors, toothbrushes, tattoo needles and, even, during sessions at the barber or beautician.