Doctor blamed in case of infected IHC carer

A doctor's failure to check up on a basic blood test led to a community care worker contracting hepatitis B and needing a liver transplant, a court has been told.

A week-long Labour Department prosecution of Idea Services was completed in Napier District Court yesterday and the judge has reserved his decision.

The department alleges that Idea Services, the community-service branch of IHC, failed to take all practicable steps to prevent a Hastings employee from being exposed to hepatitis B.

A female carer contracted the disease after being bitten by a patient in May last year. The carer, whose name is suppressed, suffered acute organ failure and needed a liver transplant.

The patient was a known carrier of hepatitis B and the carer was aware of this, but believed she was immune because she had been vaccinated in 1999 at the company's expense.

However, she had had only one of three required vaccinations to ensure immunity. The worker says she was not told that three vaccinations were needed.

The department says Idea Services should have confirmed her immunity before putting her in a high-risk situation.

Labour Department lawyer Natasha Szeto said there had been several opportunities for the company to screen the employee's blood.

The carer had been bitten by the same patient in January last year and had seen a Hastings doctor who tested her for hepatitis B immunity - but the carer was never contacted with test results.

Judge Geoff Rea suppressed the Hastings doctor's name, noting that he had not had the opportunity to provide evidence.

Judge Rea questioned whether the company could be held accountable when screening had in fact taken place but a "lack of communication" had meant the results had not been passed on.

The tests "came back that she was not immune, but no one bothered to tell her" or her employer, Judge Rea said.

"The doctor had a big sign up in the waiting room saying `don't ring us, we'll ring you' and that's what she [the carer] did. Any of us in that position would assume there was nothing wrong, otherwise the doctor would have called me."

Four medical experts giving evidence were critical of the doctor's treatment.

Idea Services lawyer Bruce Corkill said a company employee asked the carer about the blood tests and was told they were with the doctor.

- © Fairfax NZ News