Another Lawsuit Filed Claiming Hepatitis B Infection Came from Doctor’s Office
Posted on 06. Dec, 2009 in News Stories
Another patient of Dr. Parvez Dara, Candace Salgado Plaza, has filed a lawsuit against him after having been diagnosed with hepatitis B. Candace was treated by Dr. Dara in 2008 for breast cancer and lymphoma. Dr. Dara is an oncologist who was licensed as a physician in New Jersey since 1977.
Back in March of 2009, five of Dr. Parvez Dara’s patients were identified to have hepatitis B infection. At that time, the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services (NJDHSS) and the Ocean County Health Department (OCHD) notified 2,800 patients to recommend that they be tested for hepatitis B and other viruses such as HIV.
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According to the NJDHSS, “Of these 108 individuals, 19 were determined to be acute cases (recent infection) and 10 were found to be chronic (ongoing infection).”
“These 29 cases all had invasive procedures at the practice and no other known risk factors for HBV infection. The other 68 positive cases are considered possible cases; therefore we can only say that they are possibly related to this outbreak.”
In August of 2009, the state expanded its investigation. Notification letters were mailed to an additional 3,200 patients who received medical care at the facility that Dr. Parvez Dara worked at.
In a press release by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in January 2009, “more than 60,000 patients in the United States were asked to get tested for hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) because health care personnel in settings outside hospitals failed to follow basic infection control practices.”
“Reuse of syringes and blood-contamination of medications, equipment and devices were identified as common factors in these outbreaks.”
“More and more patients in the United States receive their health care in outpatient settings,” said Dr. Denise Cardo, director of CDC′s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion. “To protect patients, infection control training, professional oversight, licensing, innovative engineering controls and public awareness are needed in these health care settings.”
Dr. Parvez Dara had his license suspended on April 3, 2009 as he was being investigated.
