HealthPlus Surgery Center Update: April 2019
Fourteen patients of a New Jersey medical facility, HealthPlus Surgery Center, have tested positive for hepatitis B, while another two patients have tested positive for hepatitis C. An undisclosed number have tested positive for hepatitis A.
Several months ago, the center, located in Saddle Brook, warned its patients that the center had experienced a lapse in infection control which could have affected at least 3,778 patients that visited the facility in 2018 between January and September. Patients may have been exposed not only to hepatitis variants but also to HIV.
Class Action Lawsuit Against the Center
Several lawsuits are pending against the center, including the initial class action lawsuit brought by Maggiano, DiGirolamo, and Lizzi P.C., who are now representing over 200 patients. Many of these patients are residents of New York or New Jersey.
A highly-respected lawyer from Baltimore, Maryland, Philip C. Federico, will be joining the NY/NJ based team as the case moves to federal court. The law firm considers this a positive move since it will bring the case to the attention of a federal judge and magistrate. The magistrate assigned to the case is Mark Faulk. Maggiano, DiGirolamo, and Lizzi P.C. will be meeting to confer with Faulk and Federico this April.
This switch will allow the personal injury case against HealthPlus Surgery Center greater focus than it might receive in the overcrowded state system.
If you may have been exposed to dangerous pathogens at HealthPlus Surgery Center, contact Maggiano, DiGirolamo, and Lizzi P.C. as soon as possible. Should you be affected, the sooner we can assess your case the better. Call us at (201) 585-9111 to have your story heard!
Do You Need an Attorney?
The New Jersey Department of Health found that employees of the surgical center were not adequately disinfecting equipment or sterilizing medical instruments properly. Medical instruments were also not being stored as directed and the facility’s medications were being handled questionably resulting in significant amounts of dangerous and addictive medications going missing. Other medications, which were meant to be refrigerated, were not.
If you were a patient at HealthPlus Surgery Center, it’s vital that you retain a New Jersey medical negligence lawyer or a New York malpractice lawyer. While the center and the New Jersey Health Department have been responsible for notifying affected patients, it is very possible that not all potentially affected patients have been notified.
As recent of mid-March, prior patients are reporting that they “just received a letter from Health Plus.” This suggests that, whether you received a letter or not, you may still be affected.
If you or a loved one was seen by the Health Plus Surgery Center from November, 2017 to September 7th, 2018, and have not already contacted a lawyer, please call Maggiano DiGirolamo and Lizzi P.C. at 201-585-9111 and let us fight for your rights.
