Surgical employment and HCV

[trustjesuscsfa]

Dear Dr,
I was treated 15 years ago for HCV and have had routine RNA tests which have come back non-detectable. I have had 3 RNA tests from 3 different labs over the past 6 months with the same results. I am a surgical assistant and have been offered a job, which I accepted from a very large hospital institution. I have now been waiting 6 weeks for them to decide on whether or not I am eligible to start orientation. The employee health nurse states that the virus could return at any moment, which I know is false. Is my 30 years experience as a surgical assistant over? This is devastating to me ans my family. I cannot seem to convince the decision makers that antibodies are not contagious. I was honest on my post offer healthcare questionaire because I had a letter from my gastro who stated I was cured and of no risk for transmission. Do not know what to do. Please help.  

[dontworry_behappy1]

The webinar nan references states you don't have to tell your employer that you have Hepatitis C .  It's your personal medical information.  The medical profession requires the use of universal protections so you are covered as long as your actively using Universal protections.  

[nan535]

I was watching this webinar on treatment options for Hep C provided by the American Liver Foundation and at approx. 47 minutes into the webinar a question relevant to your question here came up. The response was a health care provider does NOT have to disclose their HCV status to their employer.
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You may want to watch the webinar:
http://hepc.liverfoundation.org/resources/webinars/treatment-options-and-the-patient-experience/

Nan

[ceanothus]

I'm so sorry. It sounds like total idiocy on the part of the potential employers, but we are talking Florida here - the state with governors and legislators who openly say they don't believe in science. If you look into legal help I'd recommend trying to fight it as a violation of federal laws rather than state laws, which are probably nonexistent anyway.

[dontworry_behappy1]

Let us know when you start orientation.  

Best to you

[trustjesuscsfa]

I took it upon myself to get myself retested to make sure it had not returned. No, I had not been exposed. I was, like them, afraid it may have the ability to return. Since then, however, I am now aware that the virus doesn't remain dormant or in remission. I was transitioning into a job with a physician group and just wanted to be sure. So, I had a test (qualitative analysis) done privately and the VA did one for me. Of course they did the cheaper one (quantitative analysis....and I did not have to wait). The third one was done by the hospital that offered me the job. They only did it because of the positive antibody test. My gastro told me that unless I get reinoculated/reinfected, it is not going to return. It is eradicated. That is hard for the employee health nurse to understand. You would think that the hospital infection control team would be "up to date" on all of the huge advances made in the HCV fight throughout the past decade. My gastro said that very soon, HCV will be a non-issue and vaccination will not be too far off. I just now need to "be still, and know God is with me"!

[trustjesuscsfa]

Thanks for everyone's feedback. I was told last week that the door has not yet been closed or the employment offer retracted. They are still looking into this and a policy change must be reviewed. The Chief of the department and the Director of Surgical Services have gone to bat for me, but no conclusion has been made. The surgeons and staff have indicated that they truly want me as a member of their team. I have worked with some of the surgeons and team members for 15-20 years. It doesn't make sense that an outdated policy or speculative fear from HCV hysteria could cost me a job.