Nevada Hepatitis Warning - Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada Malpractice

Alright, let's get into this.

The subject of controversy is an entity known as Southern Nevada Endoscopy Center.

The Nevada Secretary of State indicates two limited liability companies registered under that name, both active:
The first reflects that Clifford Carrol, MD and the Hari Om Limited Partnership are officers.

The second company, which has the same name but is listed as Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada II, lists Dipak Desai, MD and Vishvinder Sharma, MD as officers.

There are two entries at the Nevada Secretary of State for Hari Om Limited Partnership.

The first lists Dipak Desai, Kusum Desai and Dilip Patel as partners.

The second, Hari Om II, LLC, shows that it was dissolved on February 7, 2008.

The Nevada Board of Medical Examiners Site does not show disciplinary action for Dr. Carrol. He has had his license here since 1997.

The State Board has disciplined Dipak Desai, MD and the State site provides as follows:

FORMAL DISCIPLINARY ACTION TAKEN BY THE NEVADA STATE
BOARD OF MEDICAL EXAMINERS:

SEPTEMBER 13, 1996

The Investigative Committee of the Nevada State Board
of Medical Examiners filed a formal complaint against
Dr. Desai, the managing partner of Gastroenterology
Center of Nevada, alleging that he was advertising the
practice of medicine in a false, deceptive or misleading
manner by stating that certain members of the medical
group are Board Certified Gastroenterologists when in
fact they are not board certified in Gastroenterology.
Copies; Complaint 12 pages

OCTOBER 23, 1996

The Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners
accepted the Stipulation for Settlement and it was
Ordered that Dr. Desai, the managing partner of
Gastroenterology Center of Nevada, pay the sum of
$2,500 as disgorgement of payments which may
have been received by the group as a result of false
advertisment.

Copies; Order 4 pages Stipulation for Settlement 8 pages

Kusum Desai has been a licensed Nevada doctor (scope of practice listed as critical care, internal medicine and pulmonary disease) since 1980 and has no listed disciplinary actions.

The Board site does not pull up a listing for Dilip Patel.

An advanced search in Google reveals many Dilip Patel's, including an attorney, but it is not clear which Dilip Patel is listed with the Secretary of State.

A Clark County District Court inquiry shows one lawsuit in the mid 90s against a Dilip Patel (perhaps the same individual) in which Mr. Patel is listed as a defendant. This case went to arbitration

For more on the District Court case, see District Court Information on Patel Case

Vishvinder Sharma, MD is listed with the State, is licensed since 1994 and the Board lists no disciplinary actions.

This mess gained intial attention in January 2008 and widespread publicity as of yesterday.

The health district received notification of three acute cases of hepatitis C in January 2008 and subsequently identified a total of six cases to date. Five of the cases had procedures requiring injected anesthesia on the same day.

Following a joint investigation with the Nevada State Bureau of Licensure and Certification (BLC) and with consultation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the health district determined that unsafe injection practices related to the administration of anesthesia medication might have exposed patients to the blood of other patients.

There seems to be fairly universal acknowledgment that the malpractice that may have exposed as many as 40,000 to serious disease stems from the reuse of a syringe (not a needle) that was used to administer medication to a patient was reused on the same patient to draw up additional medication. The process of redrawing medication using the same syringe could have contaminated the vial from which the medicine was drawn with the blood of the patient. The vial, which was not labeled for use on multiple patients, was then used for a second patient (with a clean needle and syringe). If that vial was contaminated with the blood of the first patient, any subsequent patients given medication from that vial could have been exposed to blood borne pathogens.

The Southern Nevada Health District has an extensive question and answer on this subject on its site at Southern Nevada Health District and I will reprint that in another blog today.

IF YOU TEST POSITIVE FOR HEPATITIS C, B OR HIV, AND YOU WERE EXPOSED BY VIRTUE OF TREATMENT AT THE ENDOSCOPY CENTER OF SOUTHERN NEVADA, CHECK OUT OUR CREDENTIALS AND CONTACT US THROUGH INJURYBOARD.

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