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Doctor faces Nassau DA probe in syringe case

BY MICHAEL AMON | michael.amon@newsday.com

10:22 PM EST, November 21, 2007

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Nassau County prosecutors have opened a probe into the tainted syringe case that authorities say potentially exposed thousands of patients of a Dix Hills anesthesiologist to blood-borne diseases such as HIV and hepatitis B and C, a spokesman for District Attorney Kathleen Rice said Wednesday.

Spokesman Eric Phillips said the investigation was sparked by "the urgent need to identify exactly what happened and to fully understand the scope of the possible threat" after Dr. Harvey Finkelstein's contamination of multi-dose medicine vials through the reuse of syringes became public last week. Those lapses in accepted infection control practices resulted in at least one patient contracting hepatitis C in July 2004, authorities say.

The district attorney probe, which will look at whether criminal charges should be filed, is one of several to arise from the Finkelstein case. Phillips would not elaborate on what specific laws may have been broken.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer ordered an investigation last week into why it took the state Health Department nearly three years to notify the public after learning of Finkelstein's reuse of syringes in January 2005.

And Wednesday, a health department spokeswoman said the state was investigating why Finkelstein turned over an incomplete patient database to authorities last summer, causing a further delay in patient notification. After using that list, the state notified 628 patients last week of their risk for blood-borne diseases. The Health Department now says many patients were not included and is urging tests for thousands of patients who received injections from him going back to 1994.

Finkelstein had fought that notification because, he told investigators, he does not believe he reused syringes before 2004, when he contends he used different medications in single-use vials, said department spokeswoman Claudia Hutton. Asked if investigators believe Finkelstein intentionally misled them on his practices and his patient database, Hutton said: "That is being looked into."

The scope of the district attorney's probe was unclear Wednesday. Asked if prosecutors were looking into Finkelstein's reuse of syringes or the state health department's much criticized response, Phillips said the probe would examine "the entirety of the circumstances."

The state health department said it had received subpoenas for records this week from the Nassau district attorney's office and was cooperating. County officials also said they were cooperating.

Meanwhile, Finkelstein has provided the health department with a new database containing about 4,975 current patients, which include some or all from the prior list, and has offered to hire a consultant to look through it for names and addresses of patients who received injections, Hutton said.

The department had not yet taken Finkelstein up on the offer, Hutton said, and had no immediate plans to issue another notification letter. Instead, she said, the department is relying on Finkelstein's patients to call its hotline, 800-278-2965.

Through a spokesman, Finkelstein, 52, declined to comment. Finkelstein, who is still practicing, was not cited for violations in a prior investigation by the state's disciplinary board for doctors, the Office of Professional Medical Conduct. But that office is again working on the case, Hutton said. She declined to say why.

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