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Finklestein probe not uncommon for New York

BY DELTHIA RICKS | delthia.ricks@newsday.com

November 16, 2007

The state investigation of Harvey Finkelstein is not unprecedented, according to records that show a spate of similar investigations of hepatitis C transmission in health care facilities on Long Island and in New York City in recent years.

A spokeswoman for the New York State Health Department, Claudia Hutton, told Newsday yesterday there are at least "a half dozen" investigations annually statewide into doctors' transmission of hepatitis C.

In some instances, lawsuits and public pressure have driven doctors out of practice.

Andrew Siben, a Bay Shore lawyer, said the state probe of Finkelstein is frightening patients of the Dix Hills doctor, several of whom filed depositions in Siben's office yesterday.

Robert Tessler, a lawyer, represented many of the 41 patients who sued a Brooklyn colonoscopy center in a legal battle that lasted six years. It was finalized only last year with a payout for patients and the permanent closure of the Bayridge Endoscopy and Digestive Health Center. Tessler said those patients were infected with contaminated syringes in a scenario nearly identical to that of Finkelstein.

Tessler said the city health department investigated the center after patients contracted hepatitis C, and possibly hepatitis B.

Overall, transmission of viruses in health care settings is rare, said Dr. Joseph Perz of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But the hepatitis virus can be spread by sloppy infection control procedures, such as contaminated syringes or filthy medical instruments.

Sometimes, the doctor is unknowingly a carrier of the virus and unwittingly infects the patient after an accidental nick, encountered during surgery, bleeds into a patient's open surgical wound.

In 2002, New York State health officials announced an investigation of Dr. Michael Hall, a cardiac surgeon with the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, long identified as one of the best heart doctors in the country.

Through complex biological testing, the CDC linked hepatitis C viruses found in three of Hall's heart patients directly to an infection traced to the surgeon.

Hall's attorney Anthony Sola told Newsday yesterday his client infected no one and to this day remains a surgeon at North Shore.

"Dr. Hall has never stopped operating," Sola, a Manhattan-based lawyer said. "He has a very busy cardiac practice. He has been tested and has absolutely zero hepatitis C virus. There is absolutely no concession that Dr. Hall, in fact, gave hepatitis C to any patient," Sola said.

Hall remained able to operate without any limitations imposed by authorities, such as the health department, the lawyer said.

In Manhattan, an investigation continues into another doctor involving three known cases of hepatitis C transmission. In June, authorities notified 4,500 people who were patients of the doctor, Brian Goldweber, between December 2003 and May of this year. Goldweber has been asked to refrain from practicing by city and state health authorities as inquiries continue.

WHY IS HEPATITIS C INFECTING PATIENTS?

Hepatitis C is not a common pathogen and manadatory screening has eliminated it as a threat from the blood supply.

It can be transmitted through dirty instruments, reusing syringes, or if an unknowing carrier has blood-to-blood contact with a patient.

Hepatitis C differs from other forms of hepatitis because it can persist as a silent infection for years, producing few symptoms in some people. Other people, however, can have an immediate response to infection, such as jaundice, dark urine, fatigue and abdominal pain.