A nurse from Puyallup's Good Samaritan Hospital in Washington was arrested after police accused her of knowingly infecting at least two patients with hepatitis C. Hospital officials said that 31-year-old Cora Weberg also stole injectible drugs from the hospital. She was arrested on Friday but has not yet been charged. Police are recommending that she faces charges of second-degree assault.
The preliminary finding of probable cause filed by Puyallup police alleged that Weberg "intentionally contaminated medicine or another substance with her own blood" and administered it to patients intravenously. The report said that she "knew or reasonably should have known that her blood was likely to contain one or more blood-borne pathogens."
The hospital issued a public safety alert that recommended the 2,600 patients who might have been cared for by Weberg between Aug. 4, 2017, and March 23, 2018, get tested for hepatitis C.
Weberg's defense attorney said that the hospital has no proof that she intentionally infected the patients and that they needed a scapegoat because they are facing civil ligation relating to the hepatitis C outbreak at the hospital.
“So what they know is, they’re facing civil litigation and they’ve got to find a scapegoat. What better person than someone who’s got some narcotics issues, right?”