- This is a disgusting and horrific story. I hope that
the anesthetist is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
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- Patricia Doyle
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- Anesthetist Suspected Of Infecting Patients
With Hep C
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- By Ran Reznick and Tsahar Rotem
Ha'aretz
8-14-3
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- An anesthetist at Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva was
interrogated by police on Tue 12 Aug 2003 on suspicion of infecting hundreds
of patients with hepatitis C virus, which causes chronic liver disease.
According to suspicion, the doctor, who was addicted to drugs and carried
the virus, injected himself with anesthetics from the same syringe he later
used to anesthetize patients before operations, transferring the virus
to them.
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- The investigation began after a family doctor in Be'er
Sheva discovered that 3 of his patients were infected with the virus after
undergoing fertility treatment at the hospital. The doctor reported his
finding and the hospital began a probe into the affair. The hospital plans
to establish an information center that will call in the hundreds or thousands
of patients who underwent treatment there to undergo blood tests.
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- "Police have launched an investigation and the suspect
has been taken into custody for questioning," police spokesman Itai
Dotan said. According to a statement from the hospital, the case was discovered
last week after 6 patients were found to be carrying the virus. The hospital
then examined their medical records, which revealed that all had undergone
surgery with the same anesthetist. The doctor, who was not identified,
participated in 989 operations during the 22 months he worked at the hospital,
the hospital said. Hospital director Eitan Hai-Am told Army Radio that
letters had been sent to all 989 patients inviting them to come for blood
tests for the virus. He estimated that dozens could be infected.
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- "One of the possibilities is that before an operation
he would draw some of the anesthetic, inject himself with some and then
inject the patient with the rest," Hai-Am told the radio. Police criticized
the hospital for filing a complaint against the doctor a month after he
was fired.
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- http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/328664.html
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