Bay Imaging back in court

Monday, June 04, 2007

7 On Your Side

(New York - WABC, June 4, 2007) (WABC) -- It's a story you saw first on Eyewitness News: thousands of missing mammograms and a clinic under fire. Tappy Phillips was back in court again, confronting the doctor who's left thousands of women in the dark.

It's a frustrating and potentially a life threatening situation. The problem? A former radiology clinic named Bay Imaging and thousands of women without their medical records. Today, the owner faced a supreme court judge and our cameras.

This doctor and his lawyer may be able to ignore our questions but he can't ignore a New York State Supreme Court judge.

Today, Dr. Ruben Fleurantin was ordered to gather the close to 100,000 mammograms and start getting them to his former patients of his failed radiology business, Bay Imaging.

But as Seven On Your Side found that may be easier ordered than done.

We recently found some of the critical medical records: first in a dank warehouse basement in New Jersey and then in a hodgepodge pile in a Brooklyn basement.

We even found some records in Fleurantin's former office in New Jersey, which he lost to foreclosure and now has no access to.

Fleurantin's attorney said they would cooperate with the court. This case was brought by the attorney general who got numerous complaints from women desperate for their images.

Tappy: "Is it ever going to get down to the point where women are actually going to get their mammograms?"
Lois Booker-Williams, NYS Attorney General's Office: "We are certainly hoping now that counsel has been retained by Bay Imaging and Dr. Fleurantin that things will be moving swiftly ..."

The judge ordered Dr. Fleurantin to maintain a phone number for former patients to call. But when we tried that number this afternoon? The recording said: "The person is not available to take your call."

Fleurantin has to be back in court next month with a list of patients requesting records and a log of the progress finding and returning them.

If you are a Bay Imaging patient and need your images, call: (347) 221-0571

You can leave a message there. If you don't get a response, contact the New York State Attorney General's Office to add your name to their list of complaints.

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