NJ Man Contracts Hepatits B, Says His Doctor Is at Fault
A New Jersey oncologist whom health officials believe was responsible for a hepatitis B outbreak earlier this year was sued by one of his patients last month. The patient’s lawsuit claims he contracted the disease after being treated for prostate cancer at the offices of Dr. Parvez Dara, most recently in 2008 and 2009.
The state warned nearly 3,000 of Dara’s patients in March to get tested after five cancer patients tested positive for hepatitis B, which is transmitted through exposure to infected blood and can cause serious liver damage.
The state health department has declined to say how many additional patients tested positive after the warnings were sent out, citing the ongoing investigation. Dara’s medical license was suspended in April, following a hearing in which state investigators presented evidence about the conditions at his Toms River office.
They 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.
Dara has a history of health code violations dating to 2002. Since then, he has paid nearly $56,000 in fines for infection control health code violations, court records show. He has questioned whether his patients 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.
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.
