FREDERICTON — A tentative settlement of more than $1.2 million has been reached in a class-action lawsuit against a New Brunswick hospital over the use of unsterilized biopsy forceps over a 14-year period. In 2013, the Miramichi Regional Hospital urged nearly 2,500 women to get tested for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV after discovering the problem. Carter said the settlement is not an admission of guilt by the hospital or health authority and none of the allegations in the suit has been proven in court. Documents obtained in 2014 under access-to-information laws showed that health authority officials deliberated for three months about whether to inform the public about the unsterilized forceps. McGarry urged the affected women to be tested, but stressed that the risk of infection was extremely low, even without sterilization.

Source: National Post December 08, 2017 15:30 UTC