Doctor in N.J. hepatitis B case has his license suspended

NEWARK, N.J. -- State regulators Friday temporarily suspended the medical license of a doctor who health officials suspect is linked to a hepatitis B outbreak.

Nearly 3,000 of Dr. Parvez Dara's patients have been warned to get tested after five cancer patients tested positive for the disease, which is transmitted through exposure to infected blood and can cause serious liver damage.

On Friday, the state presented evidence about the conditions at the oncologist's Toms River office. Investigators said they found blood on the floor of a room where chemotherapy was administered, blood in a bin where blood vials were stored, open medication vials and unsterile saline and gauze.

Inspectors also cited problems with cross-contamination of pens, refrigerators and countertops; use of contaminated gloves; and misuse of antiseptics, among other health code violations.

"This was not a one-time episode," deputy attorney general Siobhen Krier told regulators. "This is a case of egregious, bad medical judgment displayed over a long period of time."

Dr. Parvez Dara, an oncologist with offices in Toms River, N.J., watches a hearing concerning his medical practice at the state Board of Medical Examiners office in Newark, N.J., Friday, April, 3, 2009. Regulators are holding a hearing Friday to decide whether to suspend Dara's medical license after five of his patients tested positive for the disease hepatitis B, that is transmitted through exposure to infected blood. (AP Photo/Mike Derer)

A special committee of the state Board of Medical Examiners issued the suspension, effective immediately, on an emergency basis. The full board will consider whether to continue the suspension Wednesday.

During the hearing Friday, Krier said Dara had a history of health code violations dating to 2002 and posed "a clear and imminent danger to the public."

Since 2002, Dara has paid nearly $56,000 in fines for infection control health code violations, court records show.

Dara said he only used sterile supplies and equipment and took steps correct the violations. He questioned whether the patients may have contracted the disease some other way, such as from a hospital or from surgery, and suggested some may have been latent carriers -- meaning they had the virus but it was dormant -- until they began receiving chemotherapy, which can suppress the body's immune system.

"It's not that rare," Dara said.

In making its decision, the committee said Dara showed "a significant and gross deficiency in judgment" and that that could not be remedied by changing office practices.

"Dr. Dara's own testimony has not persuaded the committee that he has an appreciation for the gravity of multiple breaches of basic infection control practices," the committee said in its order to suspend Dara's license.

Dara did express sympathy for his patients: "This is hurting them so much more than it's hurting me."

A March 28 letter was sent to his patients warning them of the risk and suggesting they be tested for the liver diseases hepatitis B and hepatitis C and for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Dara, originally from Pakistan, has been practicing at his Toms River office for 23 years. He estimated that he sees between 45 and 60 patients a day, with about a dozen receiving chemotherapy each day.

His attorney, Robert Conroy, argued to the board that there was no direct evidence the hepatitis cases were linked to Dara's office. He characterized the state's investigation as sloppy and said the fact that the outbreak investigation is ongoing should have precluded regulators from drawing any conclusions.

"There's no proof," he said. "This is a rush to judgment ... before they get test results back."

Conroy said Dara plans to immediately appeal the decision.