Patients
Seek Answers On Surgeon Who Spread Hepatitis
By Roni Rabin
Staff Writer
March 28, 2002
Former heart surgery patients jammed telephone lines at North
Shore University Hospital in Manhasset yesterday in an effort
to find out whether they were operated on by a doctor who
apparently transmitted hepatitis C to several patients in the
course of surgery during the past decade.
The name of the physician has not been disclosed, and some
patients who contacted the hospital's infectious disease
control unit yesterday said they were unable to get immediate
answers. Hospital officials, who said they were trying to
respond to inquiries within 24 to 48 hours of receiving a
call, have described the surgeon as a talented and prolific
doctor who operated on about one-third of the hospital's
10,000 open-heart patients in the past 10 years.
"They say some of these symptoms don't show up for five
or 10 years, said Emil Macri, 60, of Howard Beach, who
underwent open-heart surgery at North Shore in April 1999 and
had angioplasty there the following year. "If there's
something I can do now, I'd like to know.
Hospital officials said they will offer testing to patients
considered to be at risk but do not expect to screen all of
the surgeon's former patients for hepatitis C. Officials doubt
they will find many, if any, more infections linked to the
surgeon.
"It would not be advisable for us to go out and look for
carriers, said Dr. Bruce Farber, chief of infectious
disease at North Shore in Manhasset. Since about 4 million
Americans are estimated to carry the virus, he said,
"Even if you're identified with having the virus, we
don't know how you got it.
Asked whether it is possible that some asymptomatic patients
have not yet been diagnosed, Farber acknowledged, "It is
possible there are people out there who have not been
diagnosed, but added later, "If there are people out
there, we believe the number is negligible.
One patient said he called four different offices during the
day before receiving an answer from North Shore at 4:12 p.m.
yesterday. "They called and told me I'm totally in the
clear, said Everett Greenberg, 52, owner of Evergreen Music
and Entertainment in Hicksville, who underwent quadruple
bypass surgery on Nov. 22, 2000. "Initially they said 24
to 48 hours ... they were most expedient.
Earlier this week, state Health Department officials confirmed
that a cardiac surgeon at North Shore appears to have infected
at least three and possibly seven patients with hepatitis C, a
blood-borne disease that can cause serious long-term liver
disease. The earliest infection linked to the North Shore
surgeon occurred during surgery in 1993, but hospital
officials said the surgeon did not know he had the virus
himself until last August when the cluster of infections was
brought to his attention.
Health care professionals are known to be at high risk for
contracting hepatitis C from patients, but cases of
doctor-to-patient transmission of the virus are extremely
rare.
The doctor, who volunteered to be tested back in August, has
modified his surgical technique in an effort to eliminate any
risk of infection to patients, hospital officials said.
Since August, the surgeon has informed all patients of his
hepatitis C status prior to surgery, hospital officials said;
most have decided to proceed with the operation because of the
surgeon's skill, experience and record of low complications,
and a low mortality rate, hospital officials said.
Medical ethicists said yesterday the practice of informing
patients of the potential risk and minimizing the risk by
changing procedures were good steps to put in place.
"There's a wide range of potential communicable disease
between physician and patient, including things as simple as
the common cold, said Dr. Peter Schwartz, chairman of
obstetrics and gynecology at Reading Hospital in Pennsylvania,
who has served on ethics committees for several medical
associations.
"Just because a physician has a potentially communicable
disease is not a reason for them to stop caring for any
patient.
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