Ex-Excela Health cardiologist testifies in malpractice suit – Tribune-Review

The cardiologist accused of performing unnecessary procedures at Excela Health told a Westmoreland County jury on Wednesday he did nothing wrong and didn't even know about the allegations until just before he resigned in early 2011.

Dr. Ehab Morcos testified in his own defense during the eighth day of trial for a malpractice lawsuit filed against him, his former cardiology practice and Excela by a North Huntingdon truck driver who claims he received unneeded stents from Morcos during multiple procedures in late 2008.

All are appropriate, all were done for a reason, Morcos testified.

Steven Sensenich, 57, contends he received seven stents, mesh tubes implanted in cardiac arteries to improve blood flow, and that five of those devices were not needed.

His lawsuit is the first trial of 71 cases pending against Morcos, Westmoreland Cardiology (where he worked as a doctor) and Excela Health (where the procedures were conducted). Sensenich has maintained that Excela allowed Morcos and another doctor at his practice to routinely implant unneeded stents.

Morcos vehemently denied those allegations from the witness stand Wednesday while showing jurors videos of the three procedures he performed on Sensenich. Morcos said each stent was implanted to correct arterial blockages that if left untreated could have resulted in a heart attack.

I have to treat the patient to prevent a major adverse cardiac event, Morcos testified.

Morcos testified about three hours in which he told jurors he was born and trained as a doctor in Egypt and came to the United States to become an invasive cardiologist.

After attending school in Massachusetts, Morcos became a U.S. citizen and worked in and around the Pittsburgh area before being hired in 2006 by Westmoreland County Cardiology to practice at Excela.

Morcos testified he did not actively participate in the testy back and forth between doctors at his practice and a competing cardiology group based in Latrobe that leveled a series of complaints that ultimately led Excela to launch a series of three independent reviews of its stent program, the last two of which identified Morcos and Dr. George Bou Samra of performing unneeded procedures on at least 192 patients in 2009 and 2010.

Sensenich's lawyer Victor Pribanic questioned Morcos about his diagnosis that led to implantation of the stents. The doctor continued to defend his actions, telling Pribanic and jurors that each stent given to Sensenich was necessary.

Pribanic will continue to question Morcos when the trial continues Thursday.

Meanwhile, a corporate health expert testified for Excela that the hospital and its previous management team took all appropriate actions to ensure the quality of its cardiac program, including a comprehensive review in 2009 that found no issues.

Excela's current administrators have since called that study unreliable.

Dr. John Burroughs, who owns a consulting business based in New Hampshire, testified hospital officials appropriately referred all complaints about unnecessary stents through 2009 to a committee of its cardiac doctors charged with reviewing patient cases. Allegations of unnecessary procedures levied by doctors at the Latrobe practice were not directed to the hospital's peer review committee, Burroughs said.

The problem was a lack of communication. They (the Latrobe doctors) should have gone to the peer review, not to the board and administrators, which is what they did. You don't go to management, you go to peers, Burroughs testified.

He said Excela properly relied on peers to review cases and that the 2009 study in which a Texas cardiologist gave the stent program a clean bill of health was sufficient.

I was unable to find any evidence they ignored any reports. Excela did everything they could possibly do to address patient safety during Dr. Morcos' tenure, Burroughs testified.

Rich Cholodofsky is a Tribune-Review staff writer.Reach him at 724-830-6293 or rcholodofsky@tribweb.com.

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Ex-Excela Health cardiologist testifies in malpractice suit - Tribune-Review