Baltimore Sun (03/23/13) Andrea K. Walker

Maryland investigators have issued a report indicating that a staffing firm owned by Columbia-based Maxim Healthcare Services forged an email from the Maryland Board of Physicians thanking Maxim for informing it of the unprofessional and unethical conduct of David Kwiatkowski, a contract worker accused of exposing hundreds of Maryland patients to hepatitis C when he worked at four hospitals in the state from 2008 to 2010, and stating that the board would investigate the matter. Investigators learned that the email was never sent to Maxim when it looked at why the board failed to respond to the firm’s complaint about Kwiatkowski; Maxim later terminated the employee who created the email. Although the report criticizes staffing firms for failing to disclose problems with Kwiatkowski, Maxim claims that he tested negative on a drug test conducted after an employee made an allegation about his drug use, but it would have terminated his employment and reported his conduct had it been notified of a 2008 drug test by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in which he tested positive for narcotics.