NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Gov. Eliot Spitzer said state officials took too long to notify the public that a Long Island doctor's needle technique may have spread hepatitis, calling the nearly three-year delay ``deeply troubling.''
Spitzer called Friday for an investigation into what he called the state Health Department's ``unacceptably slow'' response to the case, which predated his administration.
``The Department of Health has no more important objective than the safety of the public, and clearly its response was not what it should have been,'' the governor said. Meanwhile, State Senate Health Committee Chairman Kemp Hannon said he would hold hearings next month on the state's response in the case.
Health Department spokeswoman Claudia Hutton said, ``The process should have moved faster, and there are issues we are going to address.''
The agency became aware of the problem nearly three years before urging more than 600 of Dr. Harvey Finkelstein's patients last week to get tested for hepatitis and the HIV virus.
Health officials say Finkelstein sometimes would use a syringe multiple times on the same patient, possibly contaminating vials of medicines into which the syringes were reinserted. Other patients' medicines may later have been drawn from those vials.
Health officials say the practice infected at least two patients with hepatitis C, a potentially fatal liver disease. Finkelstein, an anesthesiologist who works at a Plainview pain management clinic, has said he stopped reusing syringes after health authorities noted the problem.
Finkelstein's license has remained in effect throughout. The 52-year-old physician said Friday that he had built a reputation as a dedicated caregiver during his more than 20 years in practice.
``I believe that throughout my medical career, I have been there for my patients and their families when they needed me,'' he said in a statement that also urged his patients to get the recommended tests.
The Health Department has said it took several years of negotiations before Finkelstein turned over his patient list. The agency can issue subpoenas but rarely does, Hutton said.
