72 suits could be filed against Excela

Lawyers for dozens of former Excela Health coronary patients told a Westmoreland County judge Wednesday that as many as 72 lawsuits could be filed against the hospital system, claiming that two of its doctors performed unnecessary heart surgeries.

So far, lawsuits have been filed on behalf of 34 patients who claimed that in 2009 and 2010 doctors Ehab Morcos or George Bousamra implanted stents, tiny mesh tubes placed into an artery to ease blood flow. Those procedures were not necessary, according to the court filings.

More than a dozen lawyers gathered in court yesterday to meet with Judge Anthony Marsili to plot the logistics of the litigation.

"We want to make it more efficient and less costly for everybody," Marsili said.

Excela Health sent letters to 141 former stent patients in March, informing them that an investigation revealed they may have undergone medically unnecessary procedures in 2010. In June, another 51 patients received similar letters about stent procedures performed in 2009.

Since the public disclosure, 30 separate lawsuits and one class-action case involving four plaintiffs have been filed. More lawsuits could be in the offing, attorneys said yesterday.

Some lawyers told Marsili they represent 37 additional clients who have cases under review and that there may be other potential plaintiffs who received stents from Morcos or Bousamra but did not receive a letter from Excela.

"There could potentially be even more clients as the plaintiff's lawyers investigations progress," said Pittsburgh attorney Mark Haak, who represents one former patient in a lawsuit.

Haak said he expects that lawyers will ask the hospital to look at stent procedures performed before 2009 to investigate the potential for additional patients who received medically unnecessary stents.

Responding to questions via e-mail yesterday, Robert Rogalski, chief executive officer for Excela Health, said patients who received stents earlier than 2009 have only a "minimal risk."

"Excela Health reasonably believes that any patient who received a stent prior to 2009 has minimal risk for future adverse events. This approach is consistent with the lookback period used by other health care systems which have faced these issues," Rogalski wrote.

The federal government has investigated allegations of unnecessary stent procedures at several hospitals in Maryland, and one doctor is on trial in U.S. District Court in Baltimore on charges that he performed unnecessary stent operations in 2007.

A spokesman for David J. Hickton, the U.S. Attorney in Pittsburgh, declined to comment when asked about a potential federal investigation into the Excela Health stent cases.

Rogalski also declined to discuss that possibility.

"Excela Health will respond to government issues in a public forum at the appropriate time," he said in an e-mail.

Meanwhile, lawyers for the hospital, doctors and patients will negotiate issues related to future logistics of the civil case.

Marsili ordered that he will address any outstanding case management issues on Aug. 24.