A Washington state nurse who allegedly injected drugs and used the same needle on patients has finally been charged five years after her arrest.
Cora Weberg, a former nurse at Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup, is accused of giving a dozen patients a genetically similar strain of hepatitis C in 2017 and 2018.
Prosecutors claimed the 36-year-old would inject narcotics intended for patients and then administer the rest of the drug to patients with the same need.
She was initially arrested in May 2018, but was quickly released. At the time, officers urged prosecutors to charge him with assault, but no charges were filed.
But on September 1, she was charged with at least one count of tampering with consumer products. She should plead guilty.
Cora Weberg (pictured) was charged five years after her first arrest. She allegedly used medication meant for the patients and then reused the needle on the patients.
Weberg previously worked at Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup, Washington (pictured)
In 2018, Pierce County law enforcement officials said the woman administered smaller portions of medication to patients after using some on herself.
Weberg was “in the grip of depression” when she tampered with medication at the hospital, her lawyer said. The daily beast.
A probable cause statement alleges that Weberg confessed to stealing the drugs and said she had a plan “to end her life.
”
She was reportedly struggling with a failing relationship with her boyfriend.
Two patients fell ill immediately and another 10 fell ill over the next three months as they all tested positive for a similar strain of hepatitis C.
From there, investigators identified Weberg as a suspect, as she was the only hospital employee connected to all patients.
A CDC report following the hepatitis C outbreak said Weberg was “the only common epidemiological link” between the 12 patients.
Officials said the registered nurse – in addition to being the common link – accessed medication more frequently from the hospital’s automated system than other workers.
Pictured: Weberg with his lawyers” class=”blkBorder img-share” style=”max-width:100%” />
A CDC report said Weberg had tested positive for hepatitis C, although her attorneys at the time said she had tested negative. Pictured: Weberg with his lawyers
She also admitted to diverting injecting narcotics to patients for personal use,” the CDC report on the outbreak shares.
The report also said Weberg had tested positive for hepatitis C, although her attorneys at the time said she had tested negative.
After being identified as a suspect, the woman was arrested at the Canadian border on May 4, 2018. She was released the following day and was never formally charged.
It’s unclear why prosecutors waited five and a half years to charge the woman.
On Tuesday, a combined arraignment and plea hearing was held, according to Washington state court records.
A briefing note says Weberg acted “with reckless disregard for the risk of another person being put in danger of death or bodily harm, and in circumstances showing extreme indifference to that risk.”
In Washington, the charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Speaking to The Daily Beast, Bryan Hershman, Weberg’s lawyer, said “it’s terrible that these patients have apparently been infected with hepatitis C”.
“That said, according to the CDC and DOH written memo, there is no genetic link between Ms. Weberg and these patients,” Hershman wrote in an email.
“Furthermore, the crime to which she is pleading is purely a drug-based charge, since, in the grip of her depression, she was diverting the remaining vials of drugs OUT OF THE DISPOSAL BIN, after they had been used on the patient. ‘
Weberg was said to have been “in the grip of depression” at the time of his arrest and in the months prior.
The patients who were all in the woman’s care tested positive for the same or a similar genetic strain of hepatitis C.
Other hospitalized patients who tested positive but were not under Weberg’s care “became infected with strains genetically distant” from each other.
Blood tests performed after the fact, however, did not prove a conclusive genetic link between Weberg and the infected patients.
After his first arrest, Weberg held a press conference alongside his lawyers.
She said she “never pricked anyone, intentionally or unintentionally, with a needle that I had pricked myself with.”
Weberg lost or relinquished her four-state nursing license after her arrest. It is not known when his next court appearance will be.
