Pierce County nurse linked to hepatitis C scare loses state license



TACOMA, Wash.  — A nurse arrested in connection with a possible outbreak of hepatitis C at a Washington hospital says she didn't use drugs and is not a carrier of hepatitis C.

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 was suspended by the state.

State records say Weberg, a nurse at Puyallup's MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital, admitted to investigators that she "diverted injectable fentanyl and hydromorphone from the hospital for her personal use."



At a press conference Tuesday, Weberg denied using drugs.

Records say Weberg told the state she had been informed several years ago that she tested positive for hepatitis C after donating blood, but Weberg said that was not true.

She says she told the state that she is not "a contagious carrier of hepatitis C".

Weberg's attorney, Bryan Hershman, said she admitted to stealing drugs to use in a failed suicide attempt.

MultiCare provided the following statement to Q13 News:

"Good Samaritan Hospital remains focused on testing the more than 2,600 patients who might have been exposed to hepatitis while in our facility. So far, around 1,000 people have completed testing. While we do not have all the information about how the two patients known to be infected contracted the disease, we want to remind anyone who got a letter from us to come in to be screened for hepatitis and other communicable diseases at no cost to them."