p wrote on March 06, 2008 06:54 PM: My thouhts and prayers are with the patients and families.I totally condemn the clinics practices.

Let's not do ethnic bashing as not all the doctors from india are bad. it is worth noting that the source of hepatitis contamination is from only one patient and this patient was under the care of DR. Carrol(along with Dr. desai and others) and he should have taken utmost precautions had he known that the clinic he partially owns had been participating in bad policy. So please folks, try to identify that only few doctors, nurses were involved here and we will ask the authorities to take imediate action. Please dont blame all the doctors and nurses from usa or other country.

Most of the doctors and nurses are committed to the noble proffession and will uphold the oath

JenniferK wrote on March 05, 2008 10:53 PM: If I were a member of the Nevada Legislature, I would be profoundly embarassed that our state's laws only allow a fine of $1,000 for the disgusting, dangerous practices uncovered at this chain of clinics. Each candidate who runs against an incumbent in the next legislative elections should make a point of the neglect on the part of our legislators. Why should any clinic owner fear any state regulatory agency, when the fines are ridiculously low.

Read this quote from the regulatory report accompanying the fine: "instead of cleaning one colonoscope or endoscope and then using fresh solution to clean another one, the same dirty solution would be used, the report states." Euuu! Disgusting! But only a $1000 fine.

Rodman wrote on March 05, 2008 02:41 PM: WOW, $3000 in fines for hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of patient charges and costs and now constant grief and worry. Seems to me the State of Nevada and the medical staff of the state should be thoroughly questioned and held accountable for many of the events of this matter. I read previously that these types of clinics are usually inspected once every 3 years although the law requires they be inspected only once every 6 years. HELL, they check hookers in legal houses every week and arrest all street walkers known to have a disease. Looks like the good old state of Nevada cares more about the health of hookers rather than the 40,000 plus and growing number of possible affected citizens. I guess this explains why Jim Rogers and Kenny Guinn go out of town for their medical needs.

duh wrote on March 05, 2008 09:57 AM: was it because the nurses didn't speak English or what...

Remove Sharma from the medical board wrote on March 05, 2008 08:12 AM: The Governor needs to remove Sharma immediately.

Look for yourself wrote on March 05, 2008 08:10 AM: Dr Sharma one of the owners is currently sitting on the State Medical Board. He was appointed by Kenny Guinn.
No wonder their licenses have not been revoked.

Governor Jim Gibbons has remained silent and has not removed him. These guys were campaign contributors and Desai was on the Governor transition team.

Rory Reid's law firm represented Desai at one time and Senator Richard Bryan from the same law firm and ole Harry have all received campaign contributions from Desai.

Stay on you toes and keep the pressure on. We don't want this wept under the carpet by some "technicality"

Thank You Nevada Board of Nursing wrote on March 05, 2008 07:25 AM: Thank you, Nevada State Board of Nursing. The board is supposed to be protecting the public health. Instead, it's a basically a glorified labor union. For the last several years, the Board of Nursing has taken step after step to chip away at patient safety and quality of care.

For many years now, the Board of Nursing's first and foremost priority has been to increase the scope of advanced practice nurses, including nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, clinical nurse specialists, and nurse anesthetists. In almost every circumstance, it has been done against the advice of the corresponding physician specialty group and the state medical groups.

Nurses care more, their argument goes. Not only do they do the same job as physicians, they do it better because they're patient advocates, whereas physicians are patient adversaries. The self-serving doctors are just protecting their "turf" and their outrageous incomes. Don't let the "man" keep the nurses down.

These is the result of the Board of Nursing's visionary thinking. Maybe doctors do learn something in medical school that nurses don't know. Maybe having a doctor involved who can challenge the filthy practices of an unscrupulous physician is a good idea. The hepatitis-infected blood is on their hands.

As a physician, I am completely sickened by this preventable tragedy. My conscience, however, is clear. The Nevada State Board of Nursing has been repeatedly informed for the last 20 years that a tragedy like this would occur if the standard of care wasn't maintained. I don't think there is anything else we could have done.

Ruth wrote on March 05, 2008 07:12 AM: Just as the MGM fire changed how inspectors review hotel deficiencies, this episode needs to serve as a wakeup call to change how inspections are made of medical offices/clinics. A $3,000 fine for widespread corruption and the possibility of infecting 40,000 people? More frequent inspections are needed and the fines need to be higher.