Senator Kemp Hannon, chair of the Senate Health Committee, held a public hearing investigating the response of the State Department of Health, the Nassau County Department of Health and the Office of Professional Medical Conduct to a Long Island anesthesiologist reusing syringes and infecting patients with Hepatitis. The hearing was held at Farmingdale College Thursday, Dec. 6.

Testimony was received by State Health Commissioner Dr. Richard Daines, Deputy County Executive Dr. Mary Curtis, Gerry Conway from the Medical Society of the State of New York, Art Levin from the Center for Medical Consumers and Ilene Corina from PULSE.

Senator Hannon said, "The purpose of this hearing was to determine what we as legislators can do to make sure this never happens again. Patient safety is our priority."

Senator Hannon and the other members of the committee made it clear to the witnesses from the state and county that they have powers to protect patients and those powers should be used to better serve the public health.

"It seems patient care and protections took a back seat to bureaucracy in this case, and we have to make sure that never happens again," Senator Hannon added.

Written testimony submitted by the New York State Nurses Association stated, in part, "The New York State Nurses Association is concerned that unsafe practice and suspected professional misconduct are underreported and therefore we see value in and applaud the Senate Health Committee's efforts to investigate and review the adequacy of the current disciplinary oversight and monitoring processes and procedures as a means to ensuring quality health care and protection from harm for New York's patients."

The Senate will reconvene next month.