With thousands of former patients of the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada anxious about whether they contracted an infectious disease, Las Vegas city officials have shut down the center and revoked its license.
So far six cases off hepatitis C have been positively linked to the center. And health officials have asked that 40,000 patients who visited the clinic between March 2004 and January 11 of this year be tested for the blood-borne infectious hepatitis C as well as HIV.
The Mayor, Oscar Goodman says the license will be suspended for the clinic until further notice.
Injuryboard reported Friday that the first lawsuit has been filed. Charles Anthony Rader, 53, will be undergoing testing for the next several months as will his wife.
The negligence suit is likely to be the first in a class action against the clinic and its owner filed by the Las Vegas law firm of White, Meany and Wetherall LLP.
Criminal charges may also be filed by the local prosecutors office.
While the clinic’s owner Dr. Dipak Desai has kept a low profile, letters to the editor of the Las Vegas Review Journal strongly criticize his political contributions and 8,500 square foot home.
At one time Dr. Desai sat on the Nevada Board of Medical Examiners reports attorney Steve Klearman of Reno, an IB member.
And attorney Peter Wetherall of White, Meany, Wetherall Las Vegas was the first to report on his blog Friday night that the clinic had been closed.
The clinic issued a statement. “We wish to emphasize that the actual risk of anyone being affected by this is extremely low, but as a precaution, anyone who has undergone procedures at the Endoscopy Center who required anesthesia should be tested,” the statement said.
Health inspectors were led to the center after six cases of hepatitis C, a public health concern and reportable disease, were forwarded to the county health office. Investigators traced five cases back to the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada where workers there contaminated a multi-dise vial of anesthesia with hepatitis by using a contaminated syringe. The syringe had initially been used on a patient with hepatitis and even though the needle had been changed in-between medication withdrawals, the syringe had not, contaminating the vial's contents with hepatitis.
The CDC urges patients to insist on single-dose vials or that your health provider change both needle and syringe between mediation doses from a multi-dose vial. #