Transplant Chief at Mt. Sinai Quits Post in Wake of Inquiry
By LYDIA
POLGREEN
week after Mount Sinai Medical Center was cited by the state for
dozens of serious violations, the chief of its liver transplant
center has stepped down and the entire program will be restructured,
hospital officials announced yesterday.
Dr. Charles Miller, 50, resigned as the unit's chief after the
State Health Department fined Mount Sinai $66,000 last week for
violations that may have contributed to the deaths of several
patients. Dr. Miller will remain at Mount Sinai, however, and will
continue to perform liver transplants and other major liver
operations, said Gary Rosenberg, an executive vice president at
Mount Sinai.
Of 92 complaints investigated by the state at Mount Sinai, 75
were in the liver transplant unit. Of those, 62 involved patient
deaths.
Dr. Rosenberg said Dr. Miller had decided to resign because he
"felt there was too much going on in the liver transplant program
for him to continue with his leadership effectively." His
resignation was announced at the hospital Thursday and was effective
yesterday.
Dr. Miller did not return calls seeking comment.
Dr. Jonathan Bromberg, 46, the chief of the hospital's
kidney/pancreas program and a transplant surgeon, will take over the
liver transplant unit.
The change comes as Mount Sinai struggles to overcome a $100
million deficit and complaints about the quality of patient care at
the hospital, which is one of the nation's largest. Last month, the
medical center's president, Barry R. Freedman, was ousted and
replaced by a physician, Dr. Larry Hollier.
The death of Mike Hurewitz, a healthy 57-year-old man who donated
part of his liver to his brother in a transplant performed in July,
tarnished what had been a world-renowned program at Mount Sinai and
prompted the state's investigation.
Mike Hurewitz died after choking on his blood in a ward filled
with 34 transplant patients being cared for by a first-year
resident. Dr. Miller was the surgeon who operated on Mr. Hurewitz.
According to Mr. Hurewitz's widow, Victoria, Dr. Miller did not
check on Mr. Hurewitz after the operation. After an investigation
into his death, the State Health Department said in March that Mr.
Hurewitz had received "woefully inadequate postsurgical care."
Mrs. Hurewitz, who has become an outspoken critic of how liver
transplants from living donors are done, has repeatedly called upon
Dr. Miller to resign. Dr. Miller performed the first liver
transplant in the state 14 years ago and ran the liver program at
the hospital since 1987, hospital officials said.
In January, the state health commissioner, Dr. Antonia C. Novello,
suspended the hospital's program of liver transplants from live
donors. She extended the suspension last week after releasing the
results of an investigation that found health violations in 41 cases
in the liver transplant unit.
The problems cited included the failure of a surgeon to check up
on a patient after an operation.
In three cases, transplants were performed despite serious
problems that would normally halt an operation, like the recipient's
having cancer or sepsis. In all three cases the patients died.
Suspension of Some Organ Donations at Mt. Sinai Extended (August
30, 2002)
Metro Briefing | New York: Manhattan: 2 Families Sue Mount Sinai
(April 23, 2002)
State Checks 41 Liver Surgery Cases at Hospital Where Donor Died
(April 5, 2002)
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Mt. Sinai Lays Out Plans For Better Transplant Ward (March 22,
2002)
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