Hospital's Executive Committee Reviews Letters of Recommendation for Rapist

The executive committee of Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), which has been reviewing the case of four doctors who wrote letters of recommendation for a colleague without mentioning his prior rape conviction, will make a major statement on the issue this morning, sources at the hospital and Harvard Medical School said yesterday.

Despite widespread publicity and actions taken by President Bok and the Massachusetts Medical Society, BWH administrators have refused comment on the controversy surrounding Dr. Arif Hussain and have advised their staff and physicians to do the same.

Hussain, a former resident at BWH, was convicted of raping a nurse during a highly publicized trial last June. The anaesthesiologist appealed the case and was released on his own recognizance.

A few weeks after the conviction, four Harvard-affiliated doctors wrote highly favorable letters of recommendation for Hussian, failing to mention the rape conviction.

Hussain used the letters in applying for a job as a resident at Buffalo Children's Hospital. He was hired and began working there August 10.

On September 16, Hussain was charged with three new counts of rape and assault, following an investigation of two separate incidents in 1978.

Representatives of the Buffalo hospital said they did not learn of Hussain's conviction until police arrived with the new warrant.

The four doctors who wrote recommendations for Hussain are: Dr. Benjamin G. Covino, professor of anaesthesia and head of the anaesthesiology department at BWH; Dr. Aaron J. Gissen, professor of Anaesthesia at the Affiliated Hospital Center; Dr. Ronald A. Gabel, assistant professor of Anaesthesia at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital; and Dr. John Wark, a former staff member at BWH.

Continued Silence

Several doctors affiliated with BWH, a Harvard teaching hospital, are concerned about the hospital's continued silence on the Hussain case, staff members said yesterday.

"Faculty members want to make sure the full story is available," Daniel C. Tosteson, dean of the faculty of Medicine, said, confirming that the BWH executive committee plans to make a statement today.

Ronald Anderson, assistant professor of Medicine at Robert Bent Brigham and a BWH affiliate, agreed that staff members are worried and said, "there is a general feeling that [Hussain's] initial trial was an event that had little to do with his medical performance," but "the letters of recommendation ceased to be just a personal affair--They were associated with the name of Brigham and Women's Hospital."

The executive committee, which consists of ranking doctors and representatives of the hospital staff at large, has been discussing the Hussain case "for some time," Herbert L. Abrams, chief of Radiology and a member of the panel said yesterday.

Bok Confirmation

President Bok this week confirmed that the hospital would be making a statement on the issue and said BWH administrators had postponed comment because there were "questions of fact involved."

Bok said last week he "regretted" the letters of recommendation and called on the Med School faculty to discuss the issue and draw up guidelines on recommendations to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.

One of the most important questions is how thoroughly the Buffalo Children's Hospital verified recommendations for Hussain.

Representatives of the New York hospital originally said Dr. Martin J. Downey, chief of anesthesiology in Buffalo, had contacted the letter writers prior to hiring Hussain.

Later, they revised this statement, saying that he had spoken only to "a representative of the department of anaesthesiology" at BWH.

Downey said he could not remember when or with whom the conversation was held, and BWH officials said they have been unable to locate any who remembers such a conversation