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.

At least two patients at the hospital were infected with the disease, and officials say they believe the nurse was taking a portion of patients' narcotics for her own use and then injecting those patients with the same needle. 

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 hospital is now testing 2,600 former patients who received injections of narcotics, antihistamines or sedatives while Weberg was on duty between August 4, 2017, and March 23, 2018. 
    
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.