On Tuesday, a North Massapequa women who says she contracted hepatitis C while under the care of Dr. Harvey Finkelstein filed suit against the state for failing to promptly notify his patients about their risk for blood-borne infections. The suit, filed in New York State Court of Claims, seeks $10.5 million in damages. It is the first legal action against the state since it came under fire for waiting 34 months to inform Finkelstein's patients that he reused syringes.
Susan Lewis was one of more than 8,500 patients urged by the state Department of Health to get tested in November and December. The department learned of Finkelstein's lapses in infection control in January 2005. She received pain injections for torn cartilage in her chest from 2002 to 2004 at the physician's Plainview office, Pain Care of Long Island.
Lewis said she was not notified of her risk by the state last November but decided to get tested by her private physician after seeing media reports on Finkelstein. While her hepatitis C strain has not been genetically linked to other Finkelstein patients, Lewis said her doctor believes she has no other risk factors other than the pain injections she received.
"It's sickening. I don't know what I'm in for," said Lewis, who noted in the past two years she has experienced unexplained symptoms such as nausea, weight loss, itchiness, and bruising. Her Garden City-based attorney, Andre Ferenzo, said the nearly three-year delay prevented his client from getting diagnosed earlier and receiving medical treatment.
01/31/08
NEW YORK: Hepatitis Victim Sues State in Delayed Warning
Source: Newsday (Melville):: Michael Amon; Courtesy of the CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention