300 People Possibly Infected with Hep C by Nurse

Around 300 people at a Virginia hospital have been contacted and received the recommendation to submit for testing after possible exposure to Hepatitis C. A former Army nurse has been suspected of exposing patients to the incurable virus.

Patient Beware should be the new warning posted on all hospitals and clinics in light of the second mass exposure to Hepatitis C in recent months. A Virginia hospital has requested that 300 patients seek testing for possible exposure to Hepatitis C. Retired Army Capt. Jon Dale Jones a former nurse suspected of infecting 15 patients at an El Paso military hospital was said to have worked the Riverside Regional Medical Center. The center claims his duration of hire was between July and December of 2007. Jones was arrested in Miami, Fl. after a three year long federal investigation for the crime of infecting 15 former patients with Hepatitis C. FBI agents concluded that the infection occurred while Jones, 45, was diverting fentanyl - a powerful painkiller- from surgery patients to himself. During the three years after the Hep outbreak Jones is said to have worked in Texas, Florida, and Washington D.C. Jones has plead not guilty to the charges and was released on bond. His lawyer, Jim Darnell, is confident his client will be "exonerated and acquitted." However, the charges are backed by CDC evidence that Jones tested positive for the same strain of Hep C after the outbreak and was removed from duty at the military hospital. Lawsuits are being filed by at least 7 of the infected patients against Jones and the nursing agency that employed him at the hospital. Texas Board of Nursing was notified of Jone's positive test for Hep C, but no disciplinary action was taken and his license remained intact.