2 former patients at New Jersey surgery center test positive for hepatitis B, lawyers say
WOODLAND PARK, N.J. – Two former patients of a New Jersey ambulatory surgery center that was temporarily shut down because of poor sterilization practices have tested positive for hepatitis B, a blood-borne disease that can cause serious liver damage, their lawyers said.
The patients, David Kinlock of Newark and an unidentified 37-year-old man from the Bronx, New York, underwent blood tests after being notified by HealthPlus Surgery Center in December that “lapses in infection control” between Jan. 1 and Sept. 7 last year may have exposed them to HIV, hepatitis B or hepatitis C.
A third patient, who was treated for hepatitis A after a procedure at the center, also is seeking to become part of a class-action lawsuit as lawyers try to broaden the list of diseases and the time period for which the center may be liable.
Hepatitis B is a viral infection that affects the liver and is transmitted through blood, semen and other bodily fluids. For some people, it causes an acute, short-term illness, but for others it can become a chronic infection leading to cirrhosis of the liver or liver cancer.
“Words cannot express the way I feel,” said Kinlock, 48, who described sleepless nights after receiving the test results last week. “I am fearful – devastated, because I have kids and grandkids.” His wife, Sharlene Kinlock, who is 41 and a nurse, said she was “petrified” and had yet to be tested.
“His diagnosis must be viewed as a wake-up call for the thousands of patients who have not been tested to date,” said Kinlock's attorney, Sanford Rubenstein.
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HealthPlus, through a spokesman, said that none of its patients so far had shown evidence of contracting any of the three diseases – hepatitis A, hepatitis B or HIV – from procedures at the center.
“No positive test result to date is attributable to any prospective exposure at HealthPlus,” Ron Simoncini, the company spokesman, said Monday, noting that privacy protections prevented him from commenting on individual results.
Previously, the center had reported a “preliminary result” showing a patient had “a case of chronic hepatitis.” In a Dec. 29 news conference, Mark Manigan, an attorney representing HealthPlus, said, “Typically, this would indicate a pre-existing condition that was active prior to the patient being treated here, but the ultimate determination on that is for (the state Department of Health) to make.”
The New Jersey Department of Health, which is notified of all positive test results for HIV or hepatitis, said this week it would not release or confirm the results from testing of HealthPlus patients.
“We cannot tell when we receive positive lab results whether they represent infection related to the procedures performed at HealthPlus or were acquired in some other manner,” said Donna Leusner, a department spokeswoman.
“When the outbreak investigation is complete,” she said, the department may release a summary of the test results, identifying how many positive test results were “related to the infection control breach, unrelated to the infection control breaches, or impossible to determine.”
HealthPlus, located in Saddle Brook, New Jersey, faces a number of lawsuits. It sent certified letters recommending blood tests to 3,778 patients in December. After reporting Jan. 3 that only about one-third of the patients had actually received the letters, it has tried to reach patients by telephone.
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The Health Department said it was the responsibility of HealthPlus to determine which patients were at risk and how best to contact them.
“HealthPlus has complied with all requests and requirements from the Department of Health,” Simoncini, the HealthPlus spokesman said.
In an interview, Kinlock said he underwent arthroscopic knee surgery at HealthPlus on March 30, 2018, for an injury resulting from a car accident. “Right after the surgery,” he said, he went home and "had cold chills, shivering during the night. My whole leg turned black and blue. I had to be admitted to the ER for blood clot and infections.”
When he received notice of a certified letter on Christmas Eve, he said, he thought it was a package and went to the post office to pick it up. Instead it was the notice that he should have his blood tested. His blood test was performed Dec. 28 by LabCorp, the company with which HealthPlus has contracted to provide free testing to its patients.
A panel of seven tests was conducted. The HIV and hepatitis C results were negative, but the report of one of the hepatitis B tests reads “positive abnormal.” Kinlock said there was “no possibility” that he had contracted hepatitis B prior to his surgery.
The two other patients asked to remain anonymous, said their attorney, Michael Maggiano.
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One, a 37-year-old man from the Bronx, tested positive for hepatitis B in tests performed by Quest Diagnostics, Maggiano said. The man had epidural injections at HealthPlus in November 2017 and January 2018, after a car accident, Maggiano said.
The other, a 42-year-old man from Queens, New York, went to HealthPlus for an epidural injection in his lower back in July 2018, Maggiano said. Immediately afterward, he felt “terrible pain” in his lower left abdomen and back and started to feel extremely tired, the lawyer said. His wife told the man to go to the family doctor, who did a blood test that revealed infection with hepatitis A, Maggiano said. He was treated and has since recovered.
Maggiano said he and his staff have interviewed nearly 200 former HealthPlus patients. They have described a very crowded, busy facility, where Maggiano said he believes “the systems of sterilization control and hygiene management fell apart under an avalanche of patients each day.”
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