Health District Wants Power to Protect Patients

When more than 100 cases of hepatitis C were linked to two Las Vegas medical centers last year, it became the largest outbreak of the disease in the United States. Nevada lawmakers want to give health officials more legal muscle when it comes to dealing with these kinds of situations.

The outbreak involved the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada on Shadow Lane and the Desert Shadow Endoscopy Center on Burnham Avenue which potentially exposed nearly 60,000 people to the blood-borne illness by reusing syringes and failing to properly clean medical equipment between procedures.

(Dr. Dipak Desai who is accused of using the unsafe practices has been ordered to have an independent medical evaluation)

The Southern Nevada Health District uncovered the unsafe practices but did not have the authority to close the clinics. Lawmakers, who will meet on Saturday for a public hearing, want to change that. They are reviewing three proposed bills. Among other things, the bills would give the health district the authority to close a medical business if there is a potential danger to patients. Ultimately, in the hepatitis C case, it was the city that pulled the business licenses of the medical clinics and that took weeks.

In addition, when it came to fines, the State Bureau of Licensure could only fine the center a maximum of a few thousand dollars for putting all of those patients at risk. The new bills would give local health districts more teeth in levying fines and making doctors pay for the investigation or any patient treatment.

"We need to make changes so that we can prevent this kind of event from happening again as well as improve our ability to take action when we discover that," said Lawrence Sands, SNHD Chief Medical Officer.

The all day public hearing takes place at the Grant Sawyer building.