NY State Probing 3 Other Transplant Cases at Mount Sinai

The Health Department said it wanted to review the case of Rabbi Jeffrey Wartenberg, 62, who reportedly had an infection when he received a liver transplant at Mount Sinai on Jan. 2 and died there on Jan. 18 of the infection.

"We are at the hospital now," said health department spokeswoman Kristine Smith on Friday. Smith said the department is taking seriously all allegations regarding liver transplants at Mount Sinai and confirmed that at least three cases were under investigation.

One of the other situations under review involves surgery on another liver transplant donor performed by the chief transplant surgeon, Dr. Charles Miller, in January 1999.

In the course of surgery on Paul Luna, 55, of Patchogue, NY, who planned to donate part of his liver to his son, Luna's gall bladder and abdominal wall were cut, resulting in his gall bladder being removed and a surgical mesh being implanted to hold up the abdominal wall, according to his attorney Dr. Harvey Wachsman

But, Wachsman said, tests on the son performed while the father was on the operating table showed that the son was not ready for a liver transplant, so the donor operation "was never necessary."

The attorney, who filed a lawsuit last June against Miller and others at the hospital, also said that Miller failed to visit Luna after the surgery to explain what had happened.

One of the State Health Department's findings in Hurewitz's death was that Miller, the surgeon in charge, never visited the patient after the operation.

The Health Department additionally said it was taking a closer look at an earlier complaint about the March 2000 death of a patient who died of an infection while awaiting a liver transplant at Mount Sinai, according to spokesman John Signor

"We initially did look at this. We weren't able to substantiate it, but we will look at it again in light of the other case," he said.

The state, which mandates that all "unexpected deaths" or those not caused by a patient's underlying illness be reported within 24 hours, said it intended to investigate whether Mount Sinai should have reported Wartenberg's death.

Wartenberg was "an extraordinary human being" who secretly paid off people's mortgages to save their homes and ran a food pantry for the needy, said Stephen Brown, vice president of the synagogue in Sayville, NY.

The rabbi, a chaplain for the Suffolk Police Department, and his wife raised 17 foster children.

Dr. Nathan Kase, interim chief executive of Mount Sinai, said in a statement, "We are aware of the recent inquiry by the state and are cooperating."