Hepatitis C Scare At Las Vegas Clinic

Hepatitis C Scare At Las Vegas Clinic

www.cbsnews.com

A Las Vegas clinic may have infected a handful of patients with hepatitis C, and some 40,000 more should be tested for the blood-borne virus, health officials said Wednesday.

Six people who underwent procedures at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada have contracted hepatitis C, the Southern Nevada Health District said in a statement.

Five of those received treatment at the facility on the same day in late September. The sixth is believed to have been infected in July, the district said.

An investigation determined that "unsafe injection practices related to the administration of anesthesia medication might have exposed patients to the blood of other patients," the statement said.

Officials said the unsafe practices had been in place for several years and may have put others at risk. About 40,000 patients who received injections of anesthesia at the clinic are being notified of the potential exposure in letters arriving next week.

Chief health officer Lawrence Sands said anyone who received anesthesia at the clinic from March 2004 to Jan. 11 should be tested for the virus, along with hepatitis B and HIV.

(visit the link for the full news article)

It amazes me that this facility all of a sudden made the decision that they needed to safe money and re-use injection needles. I just don't want to believe that every nurse and doctor could be ok with that instruction and not speak out about that. I wonder if they deliberately did this, but why?

www.cbsnews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Apparently this place has done it since 2004, using the syringes and placing clean/new needles on the syringes.

It appeared in another article I read (Exposure Feared: 40,000 LV Clinic Patients urged to be tested for virusus

Syringe reuse at Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada 'common practice'

full story in above link.

Just when I think I cannot be shocked much anymore out comes another shocking "winner". Class Action lawsuits are already being filed.

What also concerns me about the article is this sentence:

The business was investigated for other unsafe practices such as not properly cleaning endoscopic equipment used in colonoscopies and upper gastrointestinal procedures.

So they were investigated for other issues as well. And the response about this by employees is: This is what we were told to do.

Since the first true HIV scare came about in what.. early 80's? Education told us to not share needles/syringes and now a medical profession is doing that?

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