Hypothetical No. 2

Facts:

Nurse Angela Joseph was an employee of Grant Medical Center in New Hampshire. Unbeknownst to the hospital that employed her, Angela was addicted to Fentanyl, a powerful opioid anesthetic. In order to feed her addiction, she routinely used syringes to draw out Fentanyl from intravenous bags that were placed at the bedside of patients that were post-surgery and being given strong opioids as pain relievers. After secretly obtaining the anesthetic, Angela would then go into a bathroom and inject herself with the Fentanyl. Other nurses in the unit became suspicious of Angela's unusual pattern of behavior. A senior nurse kept a close eye on her after receiving information from other unit workers about Angela's curious affect and frequent trips to the bathroom. On one such trip to the bathroom, the senior nurse observed Angela injecting herself in a bathroom. She reported the event to Risk Management and to the Chief Nursing Officer. Shortly thereafter, Angela was terminated.

Angela utilized syringes that she stole from other units. After injecting herself with the Fentanyl, she refilled the stolen syringes with saline and placed them back in the anesthetics' cabinets. Angela was infected with Hepatitis C. Angel engaged in this diversion and tampering despite knowing that she was infected with Hepatitis C, a blood-borne virus that can cause serious damage to the liver as well as other complications. Syringes that she had used were later utilized to treat patients at Grant Medical.

Once terminated, the Nurses Union representing Angela filed an unfair labor practices claim against Grant Medical. Angela went to work for University Med Center, 30 miles from Grant Medical. Six months after her termination from Grant Medical, Angela was discovered overdosed in a bathroom at University Med Center.

Numerous patients at Grant who had been under Angela's care became infected with Hepatitis C. That discovery triggered a massive public health investigation in which authorities in New Hampshire, other states in which the Angela had been employed, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sought to identify the scope of Angela's conduct. All told, the CDC recommended that more than 12,000 patients seek testing to determine whether Angela infected them. Testing to date has revealed that 32 patients who were treated at Grant Medical, six patients who were treated at a hospital in Kansas, six patients who were treated at a facility in Maryland, and one patient who was treated at a VA Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland, all carried a strain of Hepatitis C that has been genetically linked to the viral strain with which Angela was infected. Two patients infected with the strain died.

Questions:

1. What issues do you see in this fact pattern?

1. Are specific laws implicated?

1. Did Angela commit crime(s)?

1. Is there an action for malpractice against Grant Medical Hospital?

1. What responsibilities did the Nurses Union have to Angela?

1. What should the outcome be of the following?
   1. A criminal charge against Angela

1. A civil action against Grant Medical relating to Unfair Labor Practices.

1. A civil action against Grant Medical relating to Angela's conduct which infected patients

1. A civil action by Grant Medical against the Nurses Union