“A Never Event”

In 2002 the largest outbreak of Hepatitis C happened in Fremont, Nebraska.  May is Hepatitis C awareness month and Evelyn Mc Knight along with Travis Bennington wanted to spread the word so these preventable outbreaks don't keep happening.  It was 2002, 99 patients from a cancer center in Fremont, Nebraska were infected with Hepatitis C.  Evelyn McKnight was one of the patients she had been going to the center to be treated for breast cancer.  “First person with Hepatitis C came to the clinic to be treated for cancer that person's blood contaminated the saline bag and subsequently all of us can trace our infection to that single person,” said McKnight.  She along with Travis Bennington who represented 19 of the patients wanted to spread the word about Hepatitis C and wrote a book entitled “A Never Event” detailing the outbreak in their town.  “We wanted to do something to try and stop these things from happening and get some legislation passes and maybe look at the medical side, what can we do better to help educate nurses and doctors,” said Bennington.  They said the doctor responsible left the country following the outbreak and has since taken on leadership roles in the health field in Pakistan and has yet to be held accountable. As for McKnight she said since the tragedy she's become an advocate for Hepatitis C prevention and hopes her book will help more people become aware.  The only solace the survivors can take from this is by sharing this story and by sharing this story spread knowledge and the word about prevention because these outbreaks are completely preventable.  89 out of the 99 infected…filed lawsuits and received settlements.  If you would like a copy of “A Never Event” you can purchase them at local book stores or go to www.aneverevent.com.  There you can also learn about their organization HONOReform to help people learn more about the prevention of Hepatitis C.