A district judge in Texas on July 19 ruled against three dental patients who claimed to be infected with hepatitis C during dental procedures at a federally funded practice.
The patients received dental treatment between October 2015 and August 2016 at Coastal Health and Wellness, which has two locations in Texas City and Galveston that are operated by the Galveston County Health District.
The Joint Commission visited the clinics more than a year after the procedures and found that the practices had administrative and infection issues that failed to meet accreditation standards. The Galveston County Health District contacted previous patients and invited them to be tested for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV due to the possibility of exposure to blood-borne pathogens.
Three of the patients who tested positive for hepatitis C and recovered filed a lawsuit against the U.S. in February 2020.
The judge ruled that the plaintiffs failed to prove a connection between the dental clinics' sterilization negligence and contraction of the disease because all three patients had common risk factors for hepatitis C before visiting the clinics and the infections were long-standing.