Hepatitis Scare Linked to Clinic’s Unsafe Practices
March 6, 2008
From MSNBC.com
40,000 people learned this week that a trip to the doctor may have made them sick.
In a type of scandal more often associated with Third World countries, a Las Vegas clinic was found to be reusing syringes and vials of medication for nearly four years. The shoddy practices may have led to an outbreak of the potentially fatal hepatitis C virus and exposed patients to HIV, too.
The discovery led to the biggest public health notification operation in U.S. history, brought demands for investigations and caused scores of lawyers to seek out patients at risk for infections.
From the AP
The city of Las Vegas has shut down a clinic where up to 40,000 people may have been exposed to hepatitis C and the HIV virus through the reuse of syringes and vials, officials said on Sunday.
The clinic at the heart of the scandal, the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada, “was served with an emergency suspension of its business license,” city authorities said in a statement.
Officials are asking about 40,000 people to be tested for hepatitis B and C and HIV because of unsafe medical practices at the clinic.
Health authorities launched an investigation into the clinic after six former patients were diagnosed with hepatitis. Nurses at the clinic were told “to reuse syringes when administering anesthesia” and “to reuse vials of medication,” the city said, citing a probe by public health agencies.
