Newark Prison Doc's License Suspended After Hep C Patient Dies Under His Care

Newark, NJ - A former Newark prison doctor had his license suspended for five years for failing to properly care for a prisoner with Hepatitis C who died in his care, the state Board of Medical Examiners said Wednesday.

Dr. John L. Hochberg, 64, a Morganville resident, was paid a salary of $183,750 a year when he was Medical Director at Northern State Prison in Newark. He started the job there in October, 2008, shortly after which he began treating a 47-year-old inmate who had Hepatitis C. A month into the treatment, the inmate’s hemoglobin levels began to drop below normal levels and he began to complain of dizziness and flu-like symptoms, the state said. Over the course of the next two months, the inmate’s hemoglobin levels continued to drop to dangerous levels, and during the week of January 15, 2008, the inmate complained he was shaky, kept falling, had muscle weakness, and was confused as to time of day.

On Thursday, January 20, the inmate fell and sustained a laceration and bruises on his face. Hochberg examined the inmate and found him to be stable and in no distress, but advised the statewide medical director that if the inmate’s hemoglobin levels continued to drop and he became “symptomatic” he might need a transfusion over the weekend. Rather than taking steps to admit the inmate to the hospital for a transfusion, the doctor waited to see if the inmate became symptomatic. Hochberg examined the inmate on January 23, but did not reflect in patient notes anything about his deteriorating condition.

On Jan. 24, the inmate died.

Hochberg was terminated from his position at the prison three weeks later.

“It is inconceivable to this Board that an individual with a hemoglobin level of 4.3 would not be symptomatic,” the state Board of Medical Examiners said. “In fact, the patient record indicates that [the inmate] was symptomatic and experiencing (fainting), disorientation, and muscle weakness ... the most minimal standard of care would require checking the stool for blood, evaluation by a neurologist and a hematologist, and a CT scan. [Hochberg] did not even have these simple tests performed.”

That state also looked in Dr. Hochberg's private practice, Ortho Neuro Rehab Associates in South Amboy, where they said he overprescribed powerful narcotics to patients he treated for chronic pain from 1984 to 2003. The state alleges that Hochberg was too quick to prescribe painkillers to four patients under his care during that period, and that he handed out the powerful narcotics without first doing proper testing, and without considering other medical or psychological issues that might be causing the patient's pain. He also failed to consider alternative plans of care when painkillers did not appear to be working. Narcotic painkillers can be dangerously addictive.

Hochberg must pay $60,000 in civil penalties. He will be barred from working as a doctor for the first two years of his license suspension, and in the remaining three he must demonstrate his fitness and competency to practice to the Board. He also has to take state-mandated education in how to prescribe controlled dangerous substances.