Washington nurse faces 10 years in prison after infecting dozen patients with Hepatitis C using dirty needles

Weberg, a former nurse at MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup, admitted to diverting fentanyl and hydromorphone, narcotic pain medications. Police also said that two patients who were under her care in the emergency department in December 2017 were later admitted to the hospital and tested positive for hepatitis C.

On September 1 2023, prosecutors accused Cora Weberg, 36, of one count of tampering with consumer products.

The filing states that Weberg, “with reckless disregard for the risk that another person would be placed in danger of death and bodily injury, and under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to such risk, did knowingly and intentionally tamper with, and did attempt to tamper with, a consumer product that affected interstate and foreign commerce, specifically, hospital medication vials of hydromorphone and fentanyl.”

On September 5, 2023, Weberg entered into a plea agreement, which outlined the potential penalties: a maximum prison sentence of up to 10 years, a fine of up to $250,000, and a supervisory period after the sentence of up to three years. Her sentencing was scheduled for 30 November 2023.

Weberg previously admitted to stealing narcotics for her own use while working at Good Samaritan Hospital in 2017 and 2018; she was then accused of injecting patients with the narcotics with the same needle used to inject herself, exposing them to Hepatitis C.

in 2018, MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup says it notified patients treated in its ER from August 4, 2017, to March 23, 2018 that they should get tested for Hepatitis C.  MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital sent a notice to 2,600 patients who were given intravenous narcotics, antihistamines or sedatives in the emergency room, warning them that two patients had been exposed to hepatitis C, most likely in the ER. The hospital said in the letter that it learned “one of our nurses was removing higher-than-normal amounts of narcotics from our dispensing system and admitted to diverting medications intended for patients. She tested positive for hepatitis C and had treated both of the patients we know are infected.”

The hospital has recommended that those who may have been exposed to hepatitis C undergo testing, which the hospital said it will provide at no cost.

During a news conference in 2018, MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital president Chris Bredeson apologized to the patients who had been exposed. “This event should not have happened in any of our facilities, and the fact that it did is inconsistent with our values of respect, integrity, stewardship, excellent, collaboration and kindness,” he said. “This nurse’s actions violated our organization’s values, and because of this, we violated the trust we have with our community. We sincerely apologize to the two patients infected and to the patients who now need to be screened.”