After a review of coronary stent procedures at its Westmoreland Hospital, Greensburg, Pa.-based Excela Health has concluded 192 patients have undergone procedures potentially unnecessary in the past two years, according to a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review report.
Excela went public with the first cases of unnecessary stent procedures in March. Stents are small, mesh tubes used to open arteries narrowed by plaque. The investigations have focused on cases where plaque buildup was not significant enough to warrant a stent.
After the review, Excela made changes in cardiac leadership, and two physicians — Ehad Morcos, MD, and George Bou Samra, MD — are no longer on medical staff. In the latest portion of the review, outside experts hired by Excela identified 51 other patients who may have received unnecessary stents by reviewing files from 520 cases in 2009. Those 51 patients brought the total to 192.
Patients' lawyers have filed at least 22 class-action suits against Excela and the physicians linked to the stents.
Robert Rogalski, Excela CEO, has offered deepest apologies to patients and families. The system has hired an outside academic medical institution to conduct ongoing reviews of cardiac catheterization cases.
Read the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review report on Excela Health, Westmoreland Hospital and stents.
Related Articles on Stent Investigations:
Investigation: 141 Patients Potentially Receive Unnecessary Stents at Pennsylvania Hospital
Recipients of Allegedly Unnecessary Stents Sue Pennsylvania Hospital
Stent Investigation: 6 Patients Received Other Unnecessary Procedures at Pennsylvania Hospital
Excela went public with the first cases of unnecessary stent procedures in March. Stents are small, mesh tubes used to open arteries narrowed by plaque. The investigations have focused on cases where plaque buildup was not significant enough to warrant a stent.
After the review, Excela made changes in cardiac leadership, and two physicians — Ehad Morcos, MD, and George Bou Samra, MD — are no longer on medical staff. In the latest portion of the review, outside experts hired by Excela identified 51 other patients who may have received unnecessary stents by reviewing files from 520 cases in 2009. Those 51 patients brought the total to 192.
Patients' lawyers have filed at least 22 class-action suits against Excela and the physicians linked to the stents.
Robert Rogalski, Excela CEO, has offered deepest apologies to patients and families. The system has hired an outside academic medical institution to conduct ongoing reviews of cardiac catheterization cases.
Read the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review report on Excela Health, Westmoreland Hospital and stents.
Related Articles on Stent Investigations:
Investigation: 141 Patients Potentially Receive Unnecessary Stents at Pennsylvania Hospital
Recipients of Allegedly Unnecessary Stents Sue Pennsylvania Hospital
Stent Investigation: 6 Patients Received Other Unnecessary Procedures at Pennsylvania Hospital