Personal Injury Law

STATE HEALTH DEPARTMENT FAILS TO WARN PATIENTS OF SERIOUS HEALTH HAZARDS

STATE HEALTH DEPARTMENT FAILS TO WARN PATIENTS FOR OVER THREE YEARS OF POSSIBLE SERIOUS HEALTH HAZARDS AFTER PATIENTS ARE INJECTED WITH SOLUTION FROM CONTAMINATED VIALS

According to the New York Times, the New York state Health Department took 34 months to inform 628 patients that they should be tested for 2 types of hepatitis and HIV that may have infected their bodies when Dr. Harvey S. Finkelstein, an anesthesiologist, injected patients with medicine from contaminated multiple-dose vials. All of the cases involved epidural injections for pain by Dr. Finkelstein. The Times also reported that Dr. Finkelstein?s faulty practice directly caused at least one case of hepatitis C to be transmitted from one of his patients to another. Further, Nassau County health officials said they are now investigating a case of hepatitis B in an effort to establish whether that case of hepatitis is linked to Dr. Finkelstein.

Because of Dr. Harvey S. Finkelstein?s alleged poor infection-control practices, and because of the criticism in the nearly three year delay in notifying patients of possible health hazards, the state health commissioner, Dr. Richard F. Daines, has formulated a series of internal changes that would work to prevent delays in warnings in the future. Dr. Daines has formed a task force that will report to him on a monthly basis. The monthly report will contain such information as:

? All open investigations into doctors? practices,
? Dr. Daines will request that reports from the various divisions of the Health Department that had not previously coordinated their efforts, now seek to do so
? The Health Department may diligently and aggressively seek to obtain medical records of physicians who are involved in cases where a health hazard is present

Full post as published by New York Injury Talk Blog on January 31, 2008 (boomark / email).