SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Scripps Memorial Hospital announced May 3 that 300 patients may have been exposed to HIV or hepatitis.
The morbidly obese patients may have been infected by improperly sterilized gastroscopres used in their stomach-stapling procedures. Scripps Memorial has requested that all of them be tested for Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV. Those affected will learn of the results of their blood tests in two or three weeks.
The request for blood tests was made after the hospital discovered a nurse did not follow proper procedures for cleaning the instruments. An investigation is currently being conducted by state health officials.