Testing is almost complete for the hepatitis C virus at Norman Regional Hospital after an outbreak in the hospital's pain management clinic.

Officials announced at a press conference Tuesday that out of a total of 840 patients scheduled for testing, 750 have thus far been checked for the virus.

The hospital is testing patients who attended the pain management clinic from May 1999 to August 2002 .

Out of the 750 tested, 80 patients have tested positive for hepatitis C, according to a press release from NRH. Only 38 cases are believed to have been contracted from the pain management clinic.

Also, 15 of the patients who tested positive for hepatitis C also tested positive for hepatitis B.

According to officials from the Oklahoma Department of Health, the outbreak began when a nurse at the pain management clinic reused the same needle and syringe to inject anesthetic medications to patients there.

Nurse James Hill was under investigation by the Health Department, as well as his sponsoring physician Dr. Jerry Lewis; however, the Health Department is now investigating only Hill, and Lewis has since filed a federal lawsuit against NRH for defamation.

Mike Crutcher, epidemiologist with the Oklahoma State Department of Health, said he was surprised to learn that reusing needles even takes place.

"This practice of reusing needles, although I thought that was not happening, I am finding that it is by very highly trained people," Crutcher said.

According to a letter from the Health Department to the Oklahoma Board of Nursing, "Prior to June 2002, Mr. Hill reports that he regularly engaged in the practice of using the same needle and syringe to inject anesthetic medications ... to as many as 15 to 25 patients in one day."

According to the NRH press release, Hill was not an employee of the hospital and no longer has clinical privileges to treat patients at NRH.

Ted Bader, medical doctor at Integris Baptist Hospital, said that 30 percent of the patients will clear the virus through their own immune system and that another 70 to 80 percent could be cured through treatment.

Bader also said that he was optimistic about patients who had contracted the virus.

"I would anticipate that no one is going to die from this hepatitis C epidemic," Bader said.

David Whitaker, president and CEO of NRH, said the hospital's prime concern is for the patients and asked those who may have contracted the virus at the pain management center to seek a doctor.

"The focus at Norman Regional continues to be on our patients," Whitaker said. "We encourage those patients who haven't seen a physician to contact their family physician."

Whitaker also said that the incident at NRH is not an isolated incident and that some other hospitals in other states are facing the same dilemma.
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