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WESTFIELD, Mass. (AP) — A western Massachusetts hospital is facing lawsuits from 25 colonoscopy patients who say they were possibly exposed to disease via improperly disinfected equipment.
Attorney Robert DiTusa tells WWLP-TV (http://bit.ly/25Ld3HA ) that nearly 300 patients at Westfield's Baystate Noble Hospital were potentially exposed to hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV in 2012 and 2013.
The patients were not informed until January.
The state Public Health Department determined that new endoscopes used in the procedure were being sanitized under a protocol designed for older equipment.
The hospital was independent then, but has since become part of the Springfield-based Baystate Health network.
A Baystate spokesman says so far there is no evidence of any transmission of illness from the endoscopes, but about 50 of the nearly 300 affected patients have yet to be tested.
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