hcv-POSITIVE wrote on April 17, 2008 11:06 AM: BLACK MARKET FOR CUSTUMERS NEEDING ORGAN TRANSPLANTS. LAW ENFORCEMENT SHOULD CHECK IF ANY OF LAS VEGAS DR'S ARE INVOLVED IN SETTING UP THESE ILLEGAL ACTS. I WOULDN'T BE SURPRISED IF THERE ARE DR'S IN LAS VEGAS BEING GO BETWEENS IN THIS TRADE. YOU FIGURE IT OUT 40,000 NEW LIVER NEEDED. IT'S LIKE THE TIRE STORE DOWN THE STREET HAVING SOMEONE SLASH 40,000 TIRES FOR MORE $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

A Public Servant Forever wrote on April 07, 2008 01:58 PM: What in the world is going on, I am sitting here watching this Las Vegas City Council Meeting held today, and I really have to say that I expect more from our public officials. The Major, I love the Major, but did he and all those others on this board just sell us all out for $500,000 for the City of Las Vegas. Well, I do hope that you cash that check and quick, because these circumstances are much bigger than $500,000 for the City of Las Vegas. This is about people lives, and the blatant disregard of trust in from our physicians, and the role of the physicians and medical staff to do what is right and ethical for the patients. These actions taken today by the City Council are alarming to say the least.

Sharon Leonard wrote on March 31, 2008 07:33 AM: I'm HepC positive and I wrote to Congress/Senate:

I am writing to urge you to include funding for Hepatitis C in your Fiscal Year 2009 programmatic appropriations request letter. I would like to ask for your support for increased funding for Hepatitis C activities at the federal level. Hepatitis C advocates are asking for $50 million for Hepatitis funding, which is an increase of $32.4 million over the current funding of $17.6 million. As you are aware the President’s FY2009 budget flat funds the CDC Division of Viral Hepatitis (DVH).

There are over 4 million Americans impacted by Hepatitis C but the only dedicated federal funding stream provides a mere $17.6 million through CDC. This is insufficient to provide the most basic public health services such as education, counseling, testing, or medical management.

§ HCV is the most common, chronic, blood-borne viral infection in the United States.

§ Chronic liver disease is among the top ten killers of Americans 25 years of age and older. Hepatitis C is the most common cause of chronic liver disease in the U.S. accounting for 40-60% of all cases.

§ HCV-related end-stage liver disease is a leading cause of death among people coinfected with HIV.

§ Without intervention, the Hepatitis C epidemic is expected to result in 3.1 million years of life lost by 2019. The projected direct and indirect costs of the current HCV epidemic, if left unchecked, will be over $85 billion for the years 2010 through 2019.

I would also like to respectfully urge you to support H.R. 2552 and S. 1445, the Hepatitis C Epidemic Control and Preventation Act.

§ This bill that would establish a comprehensive federal Hepatitis C research and prevention program.

§ This bill also provides increases for other vital health and social service

All They Have Is The Truth wrote on March 23, 2008 06:15 PM: Does anybody know how/where to get a copy of the governor's emergency regulations?

doon coon wrote on March 23, 2008 02:32 PM: Third world country doctors without the third world prices.

All They Have Is The Truth wrote on March 23, 2008 01:55 PM: Furious, you're correct. The first step would be for the health department to make a good faith effort to find out how the patients at the clinic were infected with hepatitis.

Ideally, the effort would be undertaken by people who know what they're doing and who would use science and legitimate epidemiological techniques as their tools.

All They Have Is The Truth wrote on March 23, 2008 01:51 PM: Quacks, there's that old joke: Where do you go to get good healthcare in Las Vegas? (Answer below)

What I'd really like to know is what motivated the health department to go so far down a dead-end street?

Answer: McCarren Airport

Furious wrote on March 23, 2008 01:41 PM: With all due respect to Assemblywoman Leslie, we're far too early in this crisis to "move forward." Moving forward is something you consider after there has been closure, after you've exhausted every attempt to right a wrong and are doing yourself more harm than good by living in the past. We still don't know the extent of the crisis. We still don't know whether these scoundrels will be prosecuted. We don't know if there'll be any substantive changes to the way clinics operate, or whether the Board of Medical Examiners will be replaced. We can't (and shouldn't) move forward until these questions are answered. The victims in this case don't need assurances from similar victims that their lives will turn out okay. We need action. And the actions taken by our elected officials will determined their viability in the next election.

quacksinLV wrote on March 23, 2008 01:10 PM: You know the article, on your prescriptions, saying they may have some other pills in it? They claim it is 1 in 1000-my neighbor just found 6 in a months supply prescription-
You want to survive? Quit going to Dr.s

All They Have Is The Truth wrote on March 23, 2008 01:01 PM: I'm glad you brought that up, Endoscopy Patient. You are correct that reusing a contaminated vial FROM ONE PATIENT TO THE NEXT can spread disease. Unfortunately for the braintrust at the health department, the nurse anesthetists didn't do that either.

Drug and medical device companies label almost all of their products "single-use." It's a great way to increase sales. The company which makes the drug in question will tell you that it's acceptable practice to share a vial of the medication between two patients USING STERILE ASEPTIC TECHNIQUE. It's rarely done because the drug is usually used for procedures that last longer than five minutes, but it's acceptable practice IF STERILE ASEPTIC TECHNIQUE IS RELIGIOUSLY FOLLOWED. The rule is that the drug in question must be used or thrown out before six hours.

If you ask the State, they openly admit that their inspectors did NOT observe nurse anesthetists using contaminated vials from one patient to the next. They also openly admit that they did NOT observe syringes being used from one patient to the next.

If the health department had been more interested in finding the source of the hepatitis infections, instead of becoming "heroes," they would have bothered to call the company that makes the drug and find out if their understanding of the way the drug should be used was correct.

Instead, they copied inaccurate information from the outdated Internet website of a company that no longer even makes the drug. They then came up with a THEORY that, IF syringes were shared among patients, and IF contaminated vials were shared among patients, then infection MIGHT have been spread, IN THEORY.

Using their half-baked c0ck-and-bull theory, they then went on to ruin the lives, reputations, and careers of several conscientous healthcare professionals.