Dealing with hepatitis crisis

Thursday, March 5, 2009 | 2:08 a.m.

Last week was the first anniversary of one of the lowest points in the history of health care in Southern Nevada, the announcement of a hepatitis C outbreak that required 40,000 people to undergo testing for infectious diseases. The Southern Nevada Health District estimates that at least 100 people contracted hepatitis C through reuse of syringes and single-use medicine vials at the now-shuttered Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada.

What turned out to be the largest hepatitis C outbreak in the nation resulted in a flood of lawsuits against the clinic and its owner, Dr. Dipak Desai. Public outrage was also directed at the medical community, the state board that licenses doctors and the Nevada health agency responsible for monitoring clinics.

As Marshall Allen reported Sunday in the Las Vegas Sun, the Nevada Legislature is considering legislation to address aspects of the crisis.

One sensible idea is to require outpatient service centers to obtain accreditation by a nationally recognized organization. Other proposed safeguards would strengthen protection for nurses who report unsafe medical practices, and would sanction medical facilities that fail to report unexpected events involving death or serious injuries.

Nevada State Medical Association Executive Director Larry Matheis, who represents doctors, said the reforms are positive steps that will protect people in the future.

Dr. Joe Hardy, a family physician and Republican Assemblyman from Boulder City, told the Sun: “The public rightfully is insisting that we clean up our act. They trust us literally with their lives. For us to shortcut or to do something that would put them at risk — that flies in the face of reason and the Hippocratic oath.”

It is a point well taken.

The Legislature should do whatever it takes to help restore the public’s faith in Southern Nevada’s health care system.

Let’s make sure our state can help prevent potentially fatal outbreaks of diseases by requiring the oversight necessary to ensure that avoidable episodes like that created by the endoscopy center never happen again.