The patient remembers it clearly: As he awakened from anesthesia after undergoing a cardiac catheterization at Exeter Hospital, a man in hospital scrubs was standing over him, his face gleaming with sweat, a strange smile on his face.

When the cardiac patient saw the mug shot of David Kwiatkowski after the former Exeter Hospital employee's arrest Thursday in connection with a hepatitis C outbreak at the hospital, he knew it was the same man.

“He recognized him instantly,” said Portsmouth attorney Michael Rainboth, who is representing that patient and three others who contracted hepatitis C after undergoing procedures at Exeter Hospital's cardiac catheterization lab (CCL).

An affidavit by an FBI agent who investigated the hepatitis C outbreak at Exeter Hospital cites potential warning signs “associated with narcotics use and/or withdrawal” allegedly exhibited by Kwiatkowski.

-- A supervisor at the CCL told investigators he had received a complaint from another employee that Kwiatkowski was “unfit for patient care and had bloodshot eyes.” He also said the man would bring lead aprons into the procedure room and set them down next to the machine that dispenses medication.

-- Hospital employees reported seeing Kwiatkowski shaky, sweating profusely, with bloodshot eyes and on one occasion even having white foam around his mouth while on duty.

-- A patient's relative found a syringe labeled Fentanyl in a public bathroom outside the CCL.

-- Several witnesses described situations where Kwiatkowski entered the CCL even though he was not assigned to procedures scheduled. And one physician even noticed that on one occasion in February when Kwiatkowski was present at the CCL even though he was not on call, the amount of Fentanyl administered to a patient that day “seemed high.”

-- The same physician told investigators he had observed “abscesses on Kwiatkowski's body that would be consistent with the use of a blunt needle to inject medication” — the type of needle used to withdraw Fentanyl from vials.

Exeter Hospital issued a statement Friday night responding to the affidavit.

“We have no report that any employee suspected him of diverting medication from the hospital,” the statement said.

The hospital said the staffing agency that first placed Kwiatkowski at Exeter as a temporary employee in April 2011 had done pre-employment drug testing, a national criminal background check and reference checks. When the hospital hired him that October, it performed additional background checks that raised no concerns, the statement said.

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Shawne Wickham may be reached at swickham@unionleader.com.