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Dept. of Health: Manhasset doc reused syringes

BY RIDGELY OCHS | ridgely.ochs@newsday.com

9:17 PM EST, January 15, 2008

A Manhasset doctor is sending letters to 36 of his patients after the doctor reused syringes when he gave them flu shots last fall, the state Department of Health said Tuesday.

The state began investigating the practice of Dr. E. Jacob Simhaee, an obstetrician-gynecologist, in December after a complaint was filed with the Nassau County Department of Health.

The state's release of information yesterday contrasts sharply with its handling of the case of Dr. Harvey Finkelstein. It waited three years before telling the public last fall that the Dix Hills doctor had reused syringes, which resulted in transmission of hepatitis C.

"It's amazing that in this amount of time, they conducted an investigation and made a notification," said Mary Curtis, Nassau's deputy executive of health and human services. "The state and Nassau County did a great job. We've really learned from the past."

But state Sen. Kemp Hannon (R-Garden City) said a second such case perhaps warrants legislative action. "We're going to have to look into the prohibition of multiple-use vials or limiting the use of syringes to single-use syringes," he said.

As with Finkelstein, the department determined that Simhaee used a single syringe, which held up to six doses of flu vaccine, on multiple patients. Infection-control procedures require that a new syringe be used for each patient.

No diseases have been transmitted, the state said, and it said Simhaee has cooperated fully. Simhaee's patients who received the flu shot between September and December are being urged to be tested for hepatitis C, hepatitis B and HIV, and to be revaccinated against the flu.

State health department spokeswoman Claudia Hutton said yesterday's announcement reflects health commissioner Richard Daines' "concern that the public be alerted more swiftly when there is a public health issue."

More than 10,000 of Finkelstein's patients were notified that they could have been at risk and should be tested. As of Tuesday, 13 Finkelstein patients have tested positive for hepatitis B and nine for hepatitis C. The state has said it is impossible to determine whether Finkelstein's office was the source of infections.

Hutton said Simhaee was contacting the patients by phone and letter. She said the health department composed the letter, but the doctor asked to sign it.

Simhaee declined to comment Tuesday. "This is a very highly respected doctor who has been cooperating in every way with state and county officials and will continue to do so," said his attorney, Craig Schaum of Garden City.

Simhaee graduated in 1982 from the Albert Einstein School of Medicine at Yeshiva University in the Bronx, according to the state health department Web site. He did his graduate medical education at Maimonides Medical Center in the Bronx in obstetrics and gynecology, and is board certified in obstetrics and gynecology.