‘No matter what happens’

Wednesday, March 19, 2008 | 2:05 a.m.

Gov. Jim Gibbons is attempting to convince the public that he is taking “sweeping actions” in the face of the unfolding public health crisis.

But all he has done so far is discipline an overburdened state health official and send out a news release calling upon three members of the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners, and the board’s executive director, to resign.

These are superficial, ineffective steps undertaken to create the impression that he is exercising effective and responsible leadership. Nevadans should not be fooled by such gamesmanship.

We can almost guarantee that the governor will never come to terms with the real problem his own insistence that state services can hum along efficiently with grossly inadequate budgets.

Just as a lack of federal government inspectors led to the recent beef recall the biggest in the nation’s history and the ongoing safety crisis with imported goods, including children’s toys, a lack of state inspectors for health facilities is at the heart of Nevada’s frightening medical crisis.

Lisa Jones, the state health official ordered fired by Gibbons to show that he is doing something, became head of the state Licensure and Certification Bureau just five months ago after a 29-year career in state government.

She was a member of an expert panel interviewed by Las Vegas Sun reporter David McGrath Schwartz for an article published Sunday. She described the scope of the problem affecting the bureau:

“We have 49 positions and 14 are empty. And there are 50 ambulatory surgical centers, 350 group homes, 47 nursing homes and eight intermediate facilities for the mentally retarded. We have to inspect all of those.”

It was at a Las Vegas ambulatory surgical center the now-closed Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada that the current health crisis had its origin. Although it was supposed to have undergone state inspections once every three years, its last inspection was in 2001.

On Feb. 27, health officials announced that a hepatitis cluster had been linked to the center, and that subsequent inspections had uncovered unsafe anesthesia procedures there that not only potentially exposed patients to hepatitis B and hepatitis C, but also to HIV.

Past patients of the clinic 40,000 of them were sent notices recommending that they have their blood tested. Emergency inspections of all ambulatory surgical centers in the state are under way, and unsafe procedures at some have been reported.

In her budget for 2008, Jones had requested funds to hire 10 more inspectors. Gibbons axed the request because of his notorious opposition to government spending and to maintain his campaign promise not to raise taxes or fees. Fortunately, the 2007 Legislature stood up to Gibbons and funded six of the 10 positions Jones had sought.

But the funding came too late to avoid the current crisis.

Now that the consequences of skimping on funds for regulators and inspectors has been horribly revealed, Gibbons should be leading a drive for more state resources, so that the chances of crises of this proportion are vastly lessened in the future.

But instead Gibbons chose to scapegoat Jones and go after the medical examiners’ board. On Sunday night the governor called upon the board’s president, Dr. Javaid Anwar, and two other board members, Dr. S. Daniel McBride and Dr. Sohail Anjum, to resign because he said they have associations with Dr. Dipak Desai, majority owner of the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada.

McBride, who is defying the governor’s call to resign, had choice words when contacted by the Associated Press. He said the governor’s move is “outrageous” and that Gibbons is “trying to inject politics into the board process.” We agree.

Gibbons’ action toward the three doctors came two days after they had disclosed their associations with Desai and had announced they would recuse themselves “from any action, decision or adjudicative function in this matter.”

In light of the recusals, the board had asked that Gibbons appoint other doctors, with no conflicts, to the board for the purpose of making any Desai-related disciplinary decisions.

But Gibbons went after the headlines, just a day after demonstrating that he hasn’t learned from this experience. The Reno Gazette-Journal quoted him as saying Saturday at the Washoe County Republican Convention, “In 2006 I made you a promise that no matter what happens in this state, I am not going to raise your taxes. I made that promise, I’ve kept that promise because I’m a Republican governor.”

“No matter what happens” obviously includes, for Gibbons, the biggest-ever health scare in state history. Now there’s leadership.