This Nov. 18, 2019 photo shows, Goshen Hospital in Goshen, Ind. The Indiana hospital has alerted more than 1,000 surgery patients that they may have been exposed to hepatitis, HIV or other infectious diseases due to a sterilization failure. Goshen Hospital leaders said in a letter to patients that between April and September a sterilization technician failed to complete one step in the sterilizing process of surgical equipment. (Joseph Weiser/The News via AP)

By Evan Simko-Bednarski and Mirna Alsharif

(CNN) More than a thousand surgical patients at Goshen Hospital in Indiana may have been exposed to HIV, hepatitis C and hepatitis B after an error in the sanitizing procedure for surgical equipment, according to a press release from Goshen Health.

One step in a multistep cleaning process was missed by a technician, possibly contaminating the surgical equipment, said Liz Fisher, marketing specialist for Goshen Health.

The hospital identified 1,182 surgical patients between April and September of 2019 who may have been impacted, Fisher said.

Those who may have been exposed were sent notification letters and are being offered free testing for the viruses, according to Fisher.

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