Lawmaker calls for background checks on Nevada doctors

Jace Radke

Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2005 | 9:24 a.m.

The December arrest of a Las Vegas pediatrician charged with child molestation and possession of child pornography has led Assemblyman William Horne, D-Las Vegas, to sponsor legislation that would require background checks for doctors in Nevada.

"The report about the local doctor is what brought the issue to light for me," Horne said at a press conference Tuesday. "I'm the parent of a toddler, and I have another one on the way, and I think that people need to be able to trust in the sanctity of the relationship they have with their doctors."

Dr. David Glenn Evans, 32, was arrested last month by Metro Police detectives on 40 counts of possession of child pornography that allegedly included sexually explicit photographs of an adolescent boy on Evans' home computer.

The new allegations, investigated by the Las Vegas Internet Crimes Against Children task force, made up of Metro detectives and FBI special agents, resulted in four counts of sexual assault of a victim under 14; 10 counts of lewdness of a minor; three counts of use of a minor in production of pornography; and two counts of open and gross lewdness.

Evans, a resident at the University of Nevada School of Medicine since the summer, worked at University Medical Center and Sunrise Hospital, police said.

Horne said that his bill would work to ferret out criminal backgrounds of doctors when they apply for licensing with the state. Nurses, school teachers and others already must undergo background checks in order to work in Nevada.

"This is really a gap in the process that I want to see closed," Horne said.

California, Florida, New Mexico, Idaho, Illinois and Texas are among 11 states that already have laws requiring doctors to submit to criminal background checks as part of licensing.

Horne said that the Nevada law would be similar to those states and would likely require new physicians to submit fingerprints to the Nevada Department of Public Safety. The check would move on from there to the FBI for a deeper background probe.

Dr. Frank Nemec, a past president of the Nevada Medical Association, said that he supports the legislation.

"It won't create a burden for doctors to do this," Nemec said. "Doctors applying for licenses are already checked to determine that they are board certified and due diligence is conducted to determine that they went to the medical school they say they did.

"I don't see the criminal background check taking any longer than the checks that are already in place."

Nemec said that Nevada needs to get on board with the other states that already have background-check laws, because the doctors that have criminal histories will likely attempt to become licenced in states that don't require a check.

Evans, who obtained a Nevada medical license in July, could face up life in prison if convicted, police said.