Mother upset over how exposed babies will be treated for TB

ABC-7 has an update on the tuberculosis exposure at Providence Hospital where more than 750 babies and 50 employees were exposed to a healthcare worker with active TB over a year period.

There was no update on the number of TB screenings performed, but more than 250 have been tested and of the three dozen test results read, none are positive.

However, all babies under six months — regardless of whether they are positive –are recommended to receive medications. On Friday we learned more about that process.

“I’m horrified,” said Rebecca Rincones, whose two and a half year old was born at Providence in mid-July. “We’re expected to do everything at their mercy and we really don’t have a choice.”

Even though a skin TB test and chest A-ray of little Jose Antonio Rincones has come up negative for TB, all babies under six months old are being recommended to receive antibiotics, just in case.

“I feel like i’m backed into a corner and I didn’t ask for this,” Rincones said. “None of us asked for this.”

Rincones said her baby will have to receive the medication twice a week for nearly four months, and it’s not something she can just go to the pharmacy and get.

“A state employee is going to come to the house twice a week,” she said. “They do not give you the medication, they bring it with them. They only wait for 15 minutes, so if you’re not here after 15 minutes they leave and they consider it a missed visit.

Rincones, who is a working mother, told the hospital that’s going to be tough for her, but she was given no other options. A spokesman for the El Paso Department of Public Health said it’s called “Direct Observation Therapy” and it’s standard practice in TB exposures.

“That’s not OK,” Rincones said. “I didn’t create this issue and now I’m stuck with a bunch of problems. I have to rush home every day from work to accommodate them to administer this medication to my child.”

Rincones said she’s been told side effects of the drugs could include liver damage. So she said she asked if her baby could be tested for that.

“They’re only going to give you a blood test if you already start showing signs of liver damage,” Rincones said. “I demanded that my baby receive the monthly blood test and they told me I had to do it through my pediatrician at my expense.”

Rincones told me she’s aware the hospital is at risk of losing medicare funding after a recent inspection and she hopes it does.

ABC-7 spoke with the regional director of CMS, David Wright, today and he said a report is expected to be released early next week. Wright said Providence is one of only 11 hospitals in the state to have such a “severe action” taken by CMS in the past year.