TACOMA — A nurse arrested in connection with a possible outbreak of hepatitis C at a Washington hospital was released from jail without being charged with a crime.
The News Tribune reports Cora Weberg, who was arrested last week and released from the Pierce County jail Monday, has not been charged, but her nursing license has been suspended by the state.
The state records say Weberg, a nurse at Puyallup’s Good Samaritan Hospital, admitted to investigators that she “diverted injectable fentanyl and hydromorphone from the hospital for her personal use.”
The records also say Weberg told the state she had been informed several years ago that she tested positive for hepatitis C after donating blood. The allegation undercuts statements made by hospital officials and Weberg’s defenders, who say she had been “surprised” to learn she tested positive for hepatitis C.
Weberg’s attorney, Bryan Hershman, says his client is facing a rush to judgment and denies deliberately infecting hospital patients.
