By Dallas Hartman of Dallas W. Hartman P.C. posted in Hepatitis C on Monday, October 1, 2012.

Another lawsuit for medical negligence was filed in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County today on behalf of a couple from Kansas.  The lawsuit alleges that Thomas Walters and his wife Clara allege that Thomas contracted Hepatitis C while he was a patient at Hays Medical Center in Kansas at the time David Kwiatkowski worked there.

Just like the medical negligence case filed last month, the suit states that UPMC Presby and Maxim Staffing Solutions, Inc. failed to notify authorities when Kwiatkowski was found engaging in illicit behavior that could endanger patients. Further, the lawsuit alleges that Medical Solutions, LLC failed to do a proper background check of Kwiatkowski or monitor his performance.

As we reported in July, Kwiatkowski was arrested in New Hampshire after 31 people contracted the same strain of the Hepatitis C virus at Exeter Hospital.  Kwiatkowski also happens to have that same strain of Hepatitis C. 

It is now known that Kwiatkowski had Hepatitis C when he worked at Hays Medical Center in Kansas and one lawsuit has been filed by a Baltimore man that alleges he contracted Hepatitis C from Kwiatkowski while he worked in Baltimore in 2008. 

Today's lawsuit, like the one last month, alleges that UPMC's lack of action lead to the spread of Hepatitis C in at least two other states. UPMC alerted over 2,000 patients who may have been pricked with Kwiatkowski's dirty syringes to get tested for Hepatitis C in July. 

So far we have not heard of any cases of Hepatitis C caused by Kwiatkowski in Pittsburgh but since he worked in Baltimore only 10 days later where it is believed he infected a Veteran, many Western Pennsylvanians are on edge awaiting their test results.

Read article about today's case on KDKA.