Saturday, January 27, 2007

Somebody was looking for Andre Nehorayoff

Andre Nehorayoff was responsible for the deaths of "Ellen" Roe and "Faye" Roe.

I decided to see what else I could about this guy. Here are summaries from New York Medical Board disciplinary documents.

Regarding Patient A, who I'll call "Ada":
Ada was 36 years old when she went to Nehorayoff's office in Manhattan, "known as Manhattan Women's Medical Offices," on June 23, 1990, to have a D&E to remove a fetus that had died of natural causes. Nehorayoff "failed to perform and/or record the findings of an adequate medical history and physical examination." He did not order proper tests, and did not use laminaria to dilate Ada's cervix. He inadequately dilated Ada's cervix, then had her given Anaprox and oral fluids, which was inappropriate given Ada's condition. Ada was in the recovery room from noon to 5:25 p.m. "During this period the Patient was weak, unresponsive and had a falling blood pressure. Respondent should have transferred the Patient to a hospital by 2 p.m. Instead, he waited until 5:25 p.m. when the patient was cyanotic with a blood pressure of 80/0."

At 5:25, Nehorayoff "inappropriately decided" to transfer Ada to a hospital two hours away. Ada's husband insisted that an ambulance be called to transfer Ada to a nearby hospital. Because Nehorayoff had no back-up arrangements with any local hospital, a nurse called 911, and Ada was taken to Beth Israel Medical Center.

Upon admission, Ada's hemoglobin was 7.8 and her hematocrit 23.4. her blood pressure was 80/0, and her pulse a racing 126. She was in shock. Emergency surgery found two lacerations in Ada's uterus. The bleeding could not be controlled. Surgeons at Beth Israel had to perform an emergency hysterectomy to save Ada's life.

Regarding Patient B, who I'll call "Brandy":
Brandy was 18 years old when she went to Nehorayoff's office on November 22, 1989, for a second trimester abortion. Nehorayoff "failed to perform and/or record the findings of an adequate medical history and physical examination." He didn't use laminaria and inadequately dilated her cervix. During the abortion, Nehorayoff pulled a loop of Brandy's bowel through her cervix through a 2.5 cm tear he'd made in the back of her uterus.

Instead of stopping the procedure and transferring Brandy to a hospital, Nehorayoff just continued with the abortion. Only after the abortion did he hospitalize Brandy. Surgeons there found "a 6.5 segment of devascularized bowel" which they had to remove. They also had to remove fetal parts Nehorayoff had left in Brandy's uterus.

Regarding Patient C, who I'll call "Camille":
Camille was 22 years old when Nehorayoff performed a first-trimester abortion on her in his office on September 20, 1988. Camille returned on September 28, reporting lower abdominal pain. Nehorayoff didn't order a sonogram, perform a pregnancy test, or review Camille's pathology report. "It was not until on or about October 18, 1988, that Respondent ordered a sonogram and diagnosed an ectopic pregnancy." This delay in diagnosis could have resulted in Camille's death.

Regarding Patient D, who I'll call "Demitria":
Demitria was 27 years old when she went to Nehorayoff's office on October 18, 1988, for a second-trimester abortion. Like with his other second trimester patients, Nehorayoff failed to record an adequate history and physical, failed to use laminaria, and inadequately dilated Demitria's cervix.

Despite Demitria's low hematocrit of only 26%, Nehorayoff performed the abortion on an outpatient basis. Evidently this abortion was either incomplete or unsuccessful, because Nehorayoff performed a second D&E on Demitria on October 22. He failed to perform a hematocrit prior to this second surgery. He did not record any pre-operative or post-operative diagnosis, and did not order a pathology exam for the tissues removed. The board concluded that this second D&E procedure was therefore not medically indicated.

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