Earlier today in New Hampshire, David Kwiatkowski was sentenced to 39 years in prison for intentionally infecting at least 46 people with the hepatitis C that he carries.
Prior to his arrest, Kwiatkowski was a cardiac technologist and has worked in 18 hospitals in seven states. Along with being a hepatitis C carrier, Kwiatkowski is also heavily addicted to alcohol and pain medication. He has confessed to stealing painkillers from the hospital and replacing them with saline syringes that had traces of his blood.
Several victims that were infected with Kwiatkowski’s hepatitis C attended the court hearing today. Victim, Lynwood Nelson said that Kwiatkowski “should receive the same punishment he gave us: the death penalty.”
An additional victim also commented that her brother was recently diagnosed with leukemia and as a closest sibling match, she was unable to donate stem cells because of her hepatitis C status.
These scenarios and the additional 44 other testimonies were all taken into consideration in the sentencing. Prosecutors called Kwiatkowski’s crime a “national health crisis” that caused danger and emotional stress to a large number of people. Although the defense argued for a 30-year sentence and played off of Kwiatkowski’s addictions, he was still given a 39-year sentence.
I am actually quite surprised that all he got was a 39-year sentence. A man with an addiction would have simply just stolen the pain medicine. A man that works in maliciousness does what Kwiatkowski did. He intentionally warranted the death certificates of 46 innocent people. That kind of evil is unfathomable.