New Hampshire’s Exeter Hospital is being sued by 169 people, 11 of whom have tested positive to hepatitis C, allegedly after contact with a temporary worker supplied by Triage Staffing.

This is according to New Hampshire paper the Union Leader, who quotes attorney Peter McGrath as saying: “Many of them are going into counselling and other kinds of treatment as a result of the phone call at home, which tells them they are possibly contaminated with a life-threatening disease.” Most of his clients have tested negative, he says, but some are still waiting on news.

McGrath hopes to start a hearing in November having filed a complaint against the hospital in June since adding Triage Staffing, which placed David Kwiatkowski.

The paper says that the attorney hosted a news conference last Friday, 21 September, at which he was accompanied by three clients, two of who have tested positive and a mother who won’t know whether her five-year-old daughter has the disease until a second round of testing in December.

“Many people that are told they have to go through the testing have sleepless nights, anxiety, even post-traumatic stress disorder,” McGrath said.

Exeter Hospital released a statement following the press conference, expressing itself as “surprised” by McGrath’s action, and that in a meeting the previous day, “we reviewed how his clients could make use of the healthcare services Exeter Hospital is providing… In fact, he has clients who are now being actively treated by Exeter Hospital”.