Senate OKs closed trauma meetings

Wednesday, March 23, 2005 | 11:28 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- By an 11-10 vote, the Senate Tuesday approved a bill to allow closed meetings of a review board of the Clark County Health District that licenses and regulates emergency medical services.

Sen. Joe Heck, R-Las Vegas, who works as a physician at the county hospital, said peer review committees of hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers and health maintenance organizations are entitled by law to meet privately and not disclose their records.

The bill for which he advocated would permit a committee of the health district to meet in private to look at performances of doctors in treating trauma patients. Heck said the work of this committee, made up of trauma surgeons and other professionals, "would be done behind closed doors just like any other peer review process is done."

Sen. Terry Care, D-Las Vegas, countered, however, that the health district is not the same as a private hospital and because it is a government agency funded with tax dollars, its meetings should be open.

Care said Heck's bill would extend the secrecy that shrouds the medical profession into a government agency.

"I understand the need for peer review but I don't think it is appropriate to involve public bodies," Care said.

"We're not talking about a specific hospital, we're talking about the county or district board of health," he said.

He and other opponents of the bill said the public has a right to know the details regarding the efficiency and effectiveness of taxpayer-funded systems, particularly when it comes to doctors and public health systems that frequently make life or death decisions.

Senate Bill 119, which goes to the Assembly, would require people who attend the closed meetings to not disclose what went on at the meetings. And the records of the meeting would not be subject to legal discovery proceedings for such things as malpractice suits.

Heck works at University Medical Center as an emergency department physician and is a consultant to Clark County Health Department. But, he said, he had no no conflict of interest regarding the bill because this would not affect him any more than any other physician.

University Medical Center and Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center have trauma centers and St. Rose de Lima may have one soon, Heck said. They have individual peer review committees.

He said the American College of Surgeons requires a "comprehensive system peer review program" in order for a trauma center to be certified." He said the college of surgeons wants the review process to come together as a system rather than at single hospitals.

Voting for the bill were Heck and Republicans Mark Amodei of Carson City, Warren Hardy of Las Vegas, Mike McGinness of Fallon, Dennis Nolan of Las Vegas, Bill Raggio of Reno, Dean Rhoads of Tuscarora, Randolph Townsend of Reno and Maurice Washington of Sparks. Democrats supporting the bill were Steve Horsford and Mike Schneider, both of Las Vegas.