Thousands of patients at Providence Health may have been exposed to bloodborne infections, like hepatitis B and C, and HIV, due to a physician who may not have followed infection control practices, according to a statement from the health care company.
Providence said it is notifying patients who could be impacted, including about 2,200 people at Providence Willamette Falls Medical Center in Oregon City and two people at the Providence Portland Medical Center. The health care company said in its statement that patients are at a low risk of exposure to infections and are offering these patients blood tests at no cost.
The physician was employed by Oregon Anesthesiology Group and worked at the two Providence facilities between 2017 and 2023. They also worked for six months at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center in Gresham, beginning in December 2023. Officials at Legacy Health said they’re sending letters to 221 patients who also may have been exposed, and said the potential problem is isolated to this one provider.
In a statement, the Oregon Health Authority said its Healthcare-Associated Infections program is working with Legacy and Providence on “their investigations of breaches of infection control practices” at the Mount Hood Medical Center and Providence Willamette Falls, and noted that so far “neither OHA nor the hospitals are aware of any reports of illness associated with this infection control breach.”
The agency did not provide further details on how exactly the exposure transpired.
In a statement, the Oregon Anesthesiology Group said the physician has been terminated.
“When we learned that the physician had violated infection control practices, we suspended him, informed our partners Legacy Health and Providence, and then began an investigation that resulted in the physician’s termination,” the group said in its statement. “Even though the risk of infection was low, new protocols and procedures have been put in place to prevent similar incidents in the future.”
This is a developing story and may be updated.
