Heart surgeon hid hepatitis B for 24 years
Up to 5,000 German patients may be called in for tests after a heart surgeon was found to have concealed for 24 years the fact he was carrying the hepatitis B virus.
Thomas Oppermann, the science minister of Lower Saxony state, said there were firm suspicions that two patients were infected with the disease by the surgeon, a professor at Goettingen’s University Clinic, who wasn’t identified and has been banned from operating.
His infection, contracted in 1977, came to light by chance earlier this year.
He operated on 4,000 to 5,000 patients, who now may be called in for tests. Oppermann said he had lodged bodily harm charges against the surgeon.
Hepatitis B is a potentially deadly virus that can lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer. It is transmitted through blood, bodily fluids, shared needles and from mother to child.
