Nevada Health Crisis

I just spent4 days and 3 nights in fabulous Las Vegas and it started out as a much needed relaxing trip. However something that I heard in the local media quickly got me out of the relaxing mood I was enjoying. It seems that a Las Vegas clinic has possibly exposed as many as 40,000 patients with hepatitis B, C and HIV. For the Life of me I can't figure out why this story hasn't gotten any national coverage.

The Southern Nevada Health District, the regulatory agency that oversees the public health of Las Vegas and surrounding areas discovered through an investigation that a clinic was not following safety protocols. The investigation started because of a increase of patients reported with hepatitis. A number of those patients were linked to this clinic. It appears that the clinic was reusing syringes on patients. It appears that this practice may have been going on as far back as March of 2004.

It is inexcusable for someone to act in such disregard to people's safety, especially from someone you trust with your life like a medical professional. I think it is pure evil what has been done to these people. Officials are asking patients to go get tested. I can only imagine what these people are going through while they wait to learn the results. No one should be subjected to this.

The city has been holding public information meetings trying to help patients understand what exposure to these diseases may mean to them. But no one seems to be answering people's burning questions. How did this happen? Who was involved? Officials are tight lipped about many of these questions. It's unclear to me if they just don't know the answer or can't talk about them while the investigation continues.

As I think about what's happened in Las Vegas, it makes me see red! People paid that clinic to perform a service, and what they got in exchange was a nightmare. According to The National Coalition on Health Care, health insurance premiums rose by 6.1 percent in 2007 and total spending on health care was nearly $2.3 trillion. People are already paying a lot for health care; the last thing they need to worry about is trust their health care professional.

First and foremost these people needed to be tested and treated for their exposure to these diseases. Second the people who carried out these procedures that possibly exposed thousands of patients need to be prosecuted. There needs to be some kind of accountability. The people this is affecting need answers sooner rather than later. Lawsuits are already being filed; hopefully they will lead to answers. Why did this happen and who started it all?