NY Now Probing 29 Liver Transplant Cases at Mount Sinai

"There's a growing number of cases we're seeing," said Health Department spokesman Rob Kenny. The 29 cases involve two live donors and 27 patients who were waiting for or had received liver transplants.

State Health Department officials have been at Mount Sinai all week, and spokesman John Signor said: "We are not going to rush. We're going to make sure we do a thorough investigation. When it's complete, the findings will be made public."

The department said it was taking seriously all allegations regarding liver transplants at Mount Sinai. Spokesman Kenny said it was "not unusual to have an increase in complaints” following a case like the death of Mike Hurwitz, a liver-donor whose death was attributed in part to "woefully inadequate post-surgical care."

Kenny said investigators were examining records and interviewing medical personnel "regarding infection control and protocols.”

The Health Department said earlier 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.

Health Department officials also said they are looking into the death of Anthony Montemarano, 48, who died of an infection in the liver transplant unit on Thursday. Montemarano's relatives told the New York Post the unit was understaffed and "filthy."

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."