Credit: Hallagulla.com

The hepatitis C scandal in Victoria triggers more controversy as threats of legal actions against the state's Medical Practitioners Board, a clinic and a doctor multiplies.

Seven women allegedly infected with hepatitis C will seek compensation from the Medical Practitioners Board, Dr James Latham Peters, anaesthetist and the clinic where he worked - Croydon Day Surgery, which is the only late-term abortion clinic in Victoria.

Legal actions will be taken against the medical board due to claims of failure to protecting the women who may have been intentionally infected with hepatitis C virus by Dr Peters.

Two weeks after the Medical Board of Victoria was alerted and two months after the health department found that the hepatitis C virus had been contracted by three women, Dr Peters was suspended on February 15.

Just last month, another 12 women were identified by the Department of Human Services (DHS) as having contracted the virus.

The investigation net is now widened from 18 months to four years and the DHS expects the number of infected patients to increase.

Law firm Slater & Gordon is representing seven women who contracted the virus and is currently investigating an additional case.

Paula Shelton, medical lawyer of the firm said the number of infected patients will increase as more women are called in to be tested.

Infection Medicine