A Connecticut-based hospital says medical device manufacturer Novo Nordisk should be on the hook for a $1 million settlement the hospital paid to end claims that patients were exposed to blood-borne infections because of the medical staff's use of Novo Nordisk's product.

The Griffin Hospital, formally known as Griffin Health Services, filed suit against Novo Nordisk Inc. and a number of its related entities in state court on Monday, seeking damages for negligence, breach of warranty, and violations of the Connecticut Product Liability Act.

The complaint says hospital staff used Novo Nordisk's multi-dose insulin reusable pens under the assumption that the devices could be used multiple times on different patients provided that a new single-use needle was used each time.

But the pens could become contaminated due to blood or skin "backflow," the suit said. The hospital used the pens from 2008 to 2014 on about 3,100 patients, according to the suit.

There were multiple times when Novo Nordisk should have become aware of the defect, the suit claims. In March 2009, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning that the multi-dose pens should only be used for a single patient.

In March 2013, the company was hit with a proposed class action lawsuit, initiated by Olean General Hospital in New York state court. This suit pointed to the 2009 FDA warning and accused the company of negligence, according to Griffin Hospital's lawsuit.

But while all this was going on, Novo Nordisk conducted training sessions at Griffin Hospital, teaching medical staff how to use the product on at least five occasions, including September 2008, July 2009, September 2010, October 2010 and March 2014, the suit claims. The company never informed staff at these times about the risk of backflow, the suit says.

Griffin Hospital stopped using the pens on May 7, 2014, and about a week later notified the thousands of patients that they might have been exposed to a number of blood-borne illnesses, such as hepatitis and HIV. It also offered free blood testing, the suit said.

In December 2015, those patients hit the hospital with a class action lawsuit, Anthony Diaz, et al. v. Griffin Health Services Corporation, in state court. The hospital settled the suit for $1 million, Griffin Hospital said.

Griffin Hospital wants Novo Nordisk to pay all expenses it has incurred due to the usage of the pens.

"Novo Nordisk knew or should have known, many years prior to the FDA regulation being issued, that its multi-dose insulin pens, and in particular those pens in use in health care institutions like Griffin Hospital, should have had labeling affixed directly to the pen indicating that it was for 'single patient use only,'" the suit said.

Novo Nordisk did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Griffin Hospital is represented by David J. Robertson of Heidell Pittoni Murphy & Bach LLP.

Counsel information for Novo Nordisk was not immediately available Tuesday.

The case is Griffin Health Services Corporation, d/b/a Griffin et al. v. Novo Nordisk, Inc. et al., case number AAN-CV24-6056394-S, in the Superior Court in the Judicial District of Ansonia-Milford.