{"id":267816,"date":"2025-11-07T13:17:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T13:17:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/267816\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T13:17:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T13:17:16","slug":"this-florida-doctors-office-gave-its-own-patients-hepatitis-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/267816\/","title":{"rendered":"This Florida Doctor’s Office Gave Its Own Patients Hepatitis C"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Florida doctor named Lily J. Voepel is in hot water after some of her patients contracted the dangerous bloodborne infection hepatitis C while under her care. A recent investigation by the Florida Department of Health uncovered numerous unsafe practices at Voepel\u2019s office that may have contributed to these cases.<\/p>\n

At least three patients caught hepatitis C through treatments they received at Voepel\u2019s office in Melbourne, Florida, according to an administrative complaint<\/a> filed against the doctor by the health department. The department\u2019s subsequent investigation found \u201cseveral deficiencies in the facility\u2019s hygiene and sterilization procedures\u201d at the office. The office\u2019s license has been temporarily suspended, and Voepel is on the hook for a hefty fine.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnsafe infection control practices\u201d <\/p>\n

The health department first notified<\/a> the public about the potential hepatitis C exposure at Voepel\u2019s office earlier this April, warning patients about \u201cunsafe infection control practices\u201d that might have occurred during their time there. People who visited the office\u00a0between June 2023 and March 2025 were advised to get testing for the bloodborne viral disease as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

Hepatitis C is an often chronic, potentially life-shortening infection. It can be transmitted through sex or improperly sterilized and\/or shared needles. Though most people won\u2019t experience any symptoms early on, the virus can wreak havoc on the liver over time. Without treatment, chronic infections can cause cirrhosis and significantly raise the risk of liver cancer. Thankfully, the once lifelong infection is now almost always curable with antiviral therapy.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

In the department\u2019s complaint<\/a> against Voepel, they laid out multiple health code and other violations discovered during an inspection of Voepel\u2019s office conducted this past March.<\/p>\n

Among other things, inspectors found expired drugs and defibrillator pads, out-of-date manuals, and no risk management program in place. The office also failed to have adequate sterilization equipment, such as a handwashing station that could sterilize surgeons\u2019 hands before a procedure. And the office was not properly registered as a pain-management clinic with the health department, yet it advertised itself as such.<\/p>\n

A hefty punishment <\/p>\n

As a result of the department\u2019s investigation, Voepel agreed to having her office\u2019s surgery registration license suspended for six months, starting October 15, along with having to pay a $2,000 fine. She will also have to pay $18,000 to reimburse the department\u2019s costs in pursuing and investigating the case.<\/p>\n

The physician will additionally have to undergo several continuing education courses on infection control, risk management, and ethics. And she will have to provide a written plan to the health department on how her office has changed to comply with the rules moving forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Florida doctor named Lily J. Voepel is in hot water after some of her patients contracted the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,5432,392,20433,2724],"class_list":{"0":"post-267816","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-health-care","12":"tag-healthcare","13":"tag-hepatitis-c","14":"tag-infectious-diseases"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}