By: Las Vegas Now Staff
Clark County has chosen caution over cost by closing three more medical centers. The move comes after hepatitis and HIV scares at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada, which failed to get its license back from the city Monday. Now all four centers will be closed until mid-march.
Read Clark County’s Suspension Order
Late Monday, the county suspended the licenses of Desert Shadow Endoscopy Center, the Gastroenterology Center of Nevada and the Spanish Hills Surgical Center.
Concerns that those centers practiced the same reusing of syringes forced the doors closed immediately.
Read The City’s Suspension Order Here
Although the centers won’t be seeing patients for awhile, hundreds of people are still getting letters from the health department asking them to get tested for hepatitus B, C and HIV.
Health District Sets Up Hotline in Hepatitis C Scare
Two years ago George Madden went in for a routine colonoscopy. Under anesthesia, he didn’t know what happened then. But now that the clinic that performed the procedure has been shut down for unsafe health practices, he tries not to worry that something may have gone terribly wrong.
Southern Nevada Health District Hotline is (702)759-4636 (INFO)
“I never figured that going in or a simple health check up would put me in this position, but I have to deal with it,” he said.
George is just one of 40,000 people being sent letters asking them to get tested for HIV and hepatitis B and C. He had no idea he was a possible victim until he received a letter Monday afternoon.
Lawsuits Filed Against Closed Medical Center
“I am not going to worry and cry about this thing, but for some folks they are going to bed and finally hitting the floor on their knees. This is the beginning of a nightmare and Vegas is in the middle of it and we have to survive,” he said.
In December, the health department linked a number of hepatitis C outbreaks to the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada.
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Officials say employees would use the same syringes on numerous patients.
At city hall, attorneys for the center fought to get their license back with no luck, and county officials delivered notices shutting down three other centers run by the company as well.
Attorneys for the center wouldn’t talk to Eyewitness News and patients like George are demanding answers, “You have to move rocks and get in the dirt to find out what the problem is.”
He can’t believe that in four years, no one working at the clinics spoke up.
“Not one person had a heart, or they flat out didn’t know what they were doing. Someone knew and we needed a whistle blower,” he said.
Health department officials say they are waiting on a second wave of possible victims from the incident. They also say patients need to get retested in six months, because it takes time for these illnesses to show up in test results.
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I worked in the Medical field for over 12 years. That was 10 years ago, but as an employee, we had to get precautionary training every year.
Just as we were taught to take every precaution to avoid getting stuck with a needle, we knew better than to reuse a needle on patients and we were just phlebotamists, which is a position that is very low on the medical totem pole!
Doctors and Nurses are highly paid and many of them teach those under them how to be safe.
If ANYONE should know better than to reuse a needle, its them!
The fact that these doctors and nurses did not take an interest in patient safety says alot about them. I sure wouldn’t want ANY of those doctors and nurses performing a procedure on me since they obviously have such a low regard for human life! How would they feel if someone did this to them or their loved ones?
Doctors complain about the high cost of insurance to protect them from being sued but when they do something this stupid and careless, (which, I might add was totally PREVENTABLE), what is a person supposed to do? Pat them on the back because they were trying to save a few pennies at their patient’s expense?
Who and where does a person go see when they are ill and still feel safe?
Now I have to find a new Gastroenterologist, and how do I know that person won’t do the same thing or worse?
I thought these doctors were top of the line doctors or I never would have gone to see them. Now I find out they only cared about the almighty dollar, and their nurses who allowed this to go on aren’t any better!
I would NEVER allow this to happen to a patient on MY watch. I would report something like this and go work at another clinic but I would definitely not risk a person’s life doing something I knew was not right.
Do they realize how many lives they may have ruined? They say what goes around comes around. We shall see!
Comment by Ginny — March 4, 2008 @ 7:30 pm
I am awaiting my test results. My main concern is that if I have contracted a disease, I may have passed it on to my wife. If I test negative, this time, I may not be so lucky in the next test or the next. My life has been forever changed.
The lawyers are circling, but the potential monetary damages are in the billions. It is doubtful that there is enough insurance or other means to compensate everyone. Money is the least of it. The human suffering is incalcuable.
Comment by Mick — March 4, 2008 @ 8:33 pm
It is fairly rare for Hep C to be contracted sexually, unless there is blood and open wounds on both sides. There is a 10 year study that followed married couples where one had hep c and one did not and there were almost NO transmissions. So although it is possible, that is rare.
I was infected during surgery in late 06. Medical transmission seems much more likely than sexual transmission.
it is a normal reaction to worry a lot about sexual transmission but it is very rare. Rarer, than, obviously, a medically acquired case.
Comment by deb — March 4, 2008 @ 9:42 pm
I am very sorry to be following this story. These doctors should be arrested and all offices shut down and assets frozen. This is unacceptable.
Mary
Comment by Mary — March 13, 2008 @ 10:38 am