Congress cool to calls for hearings on health care

By Lisa Mascaro (contact)

Saturday, April 5, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Washington — Lawmakers from communities nationwide hit by hepatitis C scares similar to that in Las Vegas are calling for congressional investigations, but they may face stiff resistance from those concerned about exposing health care facilities to liability.

Nevada Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley and colleagues from New York, Nebraska and Michigan are pushing for Congress to become involved. In all four states, thousands of residents may have been exposed to potentially life-threatening disease because of improper medical procedures at outpatient clinics.

Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has said Nevada, where nurses improperly reused syringes and potentially exposed 40,000 patients to hepatitis and HIV, may be the “tip of the iceberg” nationwide.

Yet calls for a congressional investigation apparently are bumping up against concerns by lawmakers who fear health care practitioners could face costly lawsuits.

In Las Vegas, trial lawyers are running ads soliciting clients who received care at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada, where 40,000 patients were potentially exposed.

At a meeting of Nevada lawmakers last week, Republican Sen. John Ensign said he faced resistance to his request for congressional involvement.

Ensign had consulted with a colleague, conservative Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, a physician. Ensign suggested earlier that Coburn might be in a position to convene a hearing as the ranking member of a government oversight committee in the Senate.

Coburn, in an interview with the Sun, said he didn’t believe the outbreaks in Nevada and elsewhere were broad enough to require federal intervention.

Coburn explained that his state experienced a similar outbreak and “it almost bankrupted our medical liability — doctors’, physicians’.”

The medical professionals involved “need to go to jail ... because they obviously violated all medical protocol,” Coburn said. “But I don’t think we need a hearing because not very many people are that stupid. I think it raises it to an issue where it scares people rather than fixing it.”

Coburn added the issue should be left to the states because they license medical professionals and facilities.

Berkley and four other House lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans, have written to the health subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee seeking hearings on the subject. Those four are New York Democrats Anthony Weiner and Edolphus Towns and Nebraska Republicans Jeff Fortenberry and Lee Terry. Michigan Republican Rep. Vernon Ehlers has signed on to a letter Fortenberry is circulating among lawmakers to gather more support for a hearing.

“Unfortunately, these are not isolated incidents,” Towns and Terry wrote to the committee. “In the last year alone, an estimated 70,000 Americans will or have received notification from state or county health officials urging them to be tested for HCV, HBV or HIV due to improper infection control practices at outpatient facilities,” they wrote, using medical shorthand for strains of hepatitis and the virus that causes AIDS.

“Tragic events in Nebraska, Las Vegas, New York and Michigan underscore the importance of investigating the current practices and procedures.”

New Jersey Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., chairman of the health subcommittee, said the agenda is filled through April, but “Shelley has pointed out very dramatically that this is an issue that needs to be addressed.” He said it is under consideration.

On a parallel track, California Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman’s committee on government oversight is expected to hold a hearing this month on a forthcoming General Accountability Office report on hospital-acquired illnesses that could serve as a venue for questions about the Nevada problems.

The committee is considering a separate hearing on the hepatitis C outbreaks, and the accountability office has received numerous requests which are under consideration, for an investigative report.

Ehlers, the Michigan Republican, said he had little concern about pushback from those trying to shield the clinics from liability and expects a hearing to be held. “Trial lawyers are everywhere. I’m sure they know about this already.”