NYPD: 23 Officers Treated By Doctor In Syringe Scare

POSTED: 1:26 pm EST November 16, 2007
UPDATED: 2:09 pm EST November 16, 2007

(CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO, UNREAL)

NEW YORK -- Twenty-three New York City police officers have been identified as having received treatment by a Long Island physician who is under investigation for spreading hepatitis by dipping syringes more than once into medicine vials, police said.

State health officials said Dr. Harvey Finkelstein, who specializes in pain management, used syringes multiple times on the same patients, possibly contaminating vials of medications when the syringes were reinserted. Health officials say the practice caused at least two patients to be infected with hepatitis C, a potentially fatal liver disease.

The police officers have been notified and urged to be tested for Hepatitis B, C and HIV, police said.

“While the risk of transmission of Hepatitis and HIV from such exposures is very low, we strongly advise members of the service who may have received treatment from this practitioner during the period, to be tested for Hepatitis B, C and HIV,” said NYPD Chief Surgeon Eli Kleinman, MD, MPH.“The NYPD Medical Division continues to follow this investigation closely, and is contacting members of the service who may have been exposed to this practitioner, to offer guidance and assistance in obtaining prudent medical follow-up,” Kleinman said.

SEE THE VIDEO HERE