Hepatitis means inflammation of the liver—that’s the official definition, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website, and so are the definitions that follow.
There are three common types, listed here alphabetically: A, B, and C. They’re caused by three different viruses, and each can impact the liver in its own way. Hepatitis C ranges from a mild illness lasting a few weeks to a serious lifelong illness that attacks the liver. Chronic hepatitis C could lead to serious liver problems, including cirrhosis (scarring) or cancer.
The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department recently announced the discovery of six patients who’ve tested positive or are currently infected with hepatitis C. So what?
Generally speaking, toxins, certain drugs, certain diseases, heavy alcohol use, and bacterial or viral infections can cause hepatitis. This particular subset of patients was tested, however, because they all received an injection of some sort from Dr. Allen Thomashefsky’s medical office in Santa Barbara.
Those six patients who tested positive for hepatitis C are just a few of the hundreds of patients the Health Department has reached out to in the last couple of months. So far, 219 results have come back. Patients are also being tested for hepatitis B and HIV. So far, 212 patients have tested negative for all three diseases.
I know, I know. Thomashefsy’s office is only being investigated, and although six patients who received injections at his office have so far tested positive for a blood-borne virus, the connection to his office is strictly a circumstantial one at this point. In other words, my little canary voice needs to sing carefully here.
Let me just say: That’s nuts. That’s crazy. That’s terrible. That sucks. Hepatitis? HIV? Here in the United States, where injections should be closely controlled to prevent injection. Here in the United States, where regulators and legislators fly around supposedly protecting consumers and patients.
Being notified that something you received at a doctor’s office—a doctor’s office—where most people believe safety comes first, where most people willingly follow the direction of trusted medical professionals they believe put the health of patients first, could have given you a disease or virus that will adversely affect your health?
I don’t even know how to put into words how my little bird heart weeps for the patients on that list, and more specifically, for the patients who have since been told they have a disease that could affect them for the remainder of their lives.
Patients who’ve visited that particular doctor’s office since June 2014 are being offered testing by the Health Department. If there’s a lesson in all this, if there’s something that can be done to prevent this type of thing in the future, if there’s any way to catch something like this sooner, if there’s anything positive that can come from something like this, let’s make sure we figure it out.
The Canary is appalled. Send comments and tips to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Apr 23-30, 2015.