Illinois Masonic Medical Center filed suit Tuesday against a man who plans to sue the hospital after allegedly sitting on a needle.
The hospital is seeking an unspecified amount of damages against Wayne Kukla, 41, of 5243 N. Moody Ave. Kukla has said in a televised interview that he sat on a used hypodermic needle while visiting his sister, an Illinois Masonic patient, and was ”terrified” of contracting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
This is the fourth incident at Illinois Masonic in which the hospital has been accused of improper infection-control procedure.
The suit against Kukla says the needle he said he sat on while in his sister`s hospital room Jan. 4 contained no blood or other body fluid and no evidence of HIV was found after he sat on it. Furthermore, Kukla was told the needle was the type used to clean intravenous equipment and had only been used on his sister.
The Cook County Circuit Court suit also says, ”There was no needle on the chair in question prior to the time of Wayne Kukla`s arrival at the hospital.”
Despite such knowledge, the suit says, Kukla proceeded to give an on-camera interview with WBBM, broadcast Friday, in which he said he was
”terrified he would contract HIV from the needle in question.”
The suit also says Kukla gave a Jan. 4 interview to WLS-TV in which he said he had ”accidentally” been stuck with a needle and feared contracting HIV, human immunodeficiency virus.
The suit accuses Kukla of fraud for making ”knowingly false material representations” and making statements ”with the intent to cause Illinois Masonic Medical Center to pay money to him.”
”That`s not true,” Kukla said Tuesday of the suit`s allegations. ”I have two witnesses who saw me get stuck.” Kukla`s sister and nephew were in the room at the time, he said.
Kukla also maintained he feared contracting HIV after the incident and passing the infection to his wife and 5-month-old child.
”I didn`t know if it (the needle) had been used on anyone or how long it had been sitting there,” he said. ”The chair was right under the (disposal) receptacle.”
Kukla said he had heard about previous HIV-related incidents at the hospital.
”I remember seeing it on TV,” he said. ”I couldn`t believe this was happening again, leaving a discarded needle laying around.”
Kukla said he was relieved that the needle did not test positive for HIV, but ”the issue now is that they`re calling me a liar.”
The suit also accuses Kukla of slander for making statements that had
”no reasonable basis” with the ”evil intent to injure Illinois Masonic Medical Center and to damage its reputation for providing safe medical care.”