Clinic’s practices an affront to nursing field
To the editor:
When I first read about what transpired at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada, my initial thought was that there must not have been any registered nurses or licensed practical nurses working there. Professional nurses would never have allowed such unethical and potentially harmful care to occur.
I was surprised and very disappointed to read in the Review-Journal that some registered nurses and nurse anesthetists willfully used contaminated syringes when providing patient care. While it may never be determined which specific nurses reused syringes and which ones did not (I applaud the nurses who did not reuse syringes), the public has already begun to question the training and competence of registered nurses in Nevada.
I can honestly say I am ashamed of my fellow registered nurses for such egregious behavior. Not to mention that this situation has touched my family and friends, too. Every person I have spoken to since last week seems to know one of the 40,000 patients who needs to undergo blood testing to make sure they were not infected with hepatitis or HIV.
Shorty after this story broke, I was asked by someone who knew that I taught within a nursing program whether it is a common practice to teach student nurses to reuse syringes. I explained that this practice that is never taught in nursing school. A nurse’s worst fear is to be stuck with a “dirty” needle. No competent nurse would ever purposely expose a patient to the potential of contracting blood-borne illnesses.
Every nursing school within the state of Nevada must maintain high standards and provide rigor in the education it is providing to its students. Unfortunately, that means not every student enrolled will always be successful in becoming a registered nurse or licensed practical nurse, but the alternative is that the next time, one, four or 40,000 or more patients can be harmed.
Irene Coons
LAS VEGAS
Bad decision
To the editor:
The Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada should not have reused syringes from one patient to another. But the damage to certain patients has already happened, and the center has rectified its procedures. State authorities agree that corrective action has been taken.
City authorities taking possession of the center’s business license and closing down its businesses does not make sense to me. It is a dumb decision on the part of city authorities to close down the Las Vegas clinic. The courts will take proper action on the affected cases.
I have known Dr. Dipak Desai and his family for about 20 years. He and his family are extremely well-regarded in the Indian community at large. The whole family is well-known for its charitable causes.
The clinic’s business license must be returned immediately, because I don’t see any merit on the part of city of Las Vegas to keep the license and let dust gather on it in some bureaucratic offices. The Southern Nevada Health District can monitor procedures periodically.
The city of Las Vegas should not stick to its dumb decision of withholding the license when the well-being of the public is not threatened at all by using a fresh syringe at all times.
Rajendar Singal
LAS VEGAS
Strip licenses
To the editor:
I’ve been reading and listening to the news about the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada, which had its business license revoked because its staff tried to save money by reusing syringes and vials.
I have not heard a word about revoking the licenses of all the doctors and registered nurses who willingly reused those syringes and vials of medication.
These people are trained professionals who knew better. Had they all refused to reuse needles, the clinic would not have been able to commit this crime against our community.
Doesn’t Nevada have a medical board that watches over this kind of thing?
Wallace Eastman
LAS VEGAS
Lawsuit abuse
To the editor:
Many thanks to the Review-Journal and reporter Adrienne Packer for enlightening coverage of another fraud conspiracy involving bad-apple personal injury lawyers, the likes of whom, among other things, inflate health care costs, clog Clark County court dockets and thereby delay or deny justice for real victims (“Conspiracy, fraud trial: Surgeon tells of ‘stupidity, greed,’ ” Tuesday).
Though many plaintiffs’ attorneys and some judges howled in protest when my organization named Clark County a “judicial hellhole” in December, the alleged medical malpractice scheming of lawyer Noel Gage and that of countless others like him helps make our case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Local and state leaders should stop denying that costly problems exist within Clark County’s civil justice system. And rather than simply rely on federal authorities for after-the-fact criminal prosecutions, Nevada’s leaders should themselves proactively deal with these problems. Surely Silver State taxpayers and consumers would support reasonable reforms aimed at reining in rampant lawsuit abuse.
Darren McKinney
WASHINGTON, D.C.
THE WRITER IS DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS FOR THE AMERICAN TORT REFORM ASSOCIATION.
Failing drug war
To the editor:
Regarding your thoughtful Feb. 27 editorial: The financial incentives created by civil asset forfeiture laws create a dangerous precedent. Police can confiscate cars, cash and homes without bothering to charge owners with a crime. Vague allegations of drug trafficking don’t justify turning protectors of the peace into financial predators. The drug war threatens the integrity of a country founded on the concept of limited government.
Police searches on public transit, drug-sniffing dogs in schools and random drug testing have led to a loss of civil liberties, while failing miserably at preventing drug use. A majority of European Union countries have decriminalized marijuana. Despite marijuana prohibition, and perhaps because of forbidden-fruit appeal, lifetime use of marijuana is higher in the United States than any European country.
The United States now has the highest incarceration rate in the world, in large part because of the war on some drugs. This is big government at its worst.
It’s not possible to wage a moralistic war against consensual vices unless privacy is completely eliminated, along with the Constitution. America can be a free country or a “drug-free” country, but not both.
Robert Sharpe
WASHINGTON, D.C.
THE WRITER IS A POLICY ANALYST FOR COMMON SENSE FOR DRUG POLICY.
Go with the Deuce
To the editor:
Is the Nevada Tax Commission insane (“Monorail tax break renewed,” Tuesday Review-Journal)? Servicing the Strip through its highly successful Deuce buses, the Regional Transportation Commission already provides the service to the Strip corridor that supposedly gives the Las Vegas Monorail the justification to not pay sales or property taxes.
Before raising $1.5 billion to run the monorail to the airport and take additional land off the property tax rolls, consider running the Deuce system to the airport.
Andy Spurlock
LAS VEGAS
Tasty solution
To the editor:
In response to your Monday article, “Boaters finding mussels big pain”: In the Caspian Sea region, the quagga mussels are controlled by the voracious appetites of sturgeon, the apex predator.
We need to introduce sturgeon to Lake Mead and the other lakes of the Colorado River.
How to control sturgeon? Catch and eat them. They are delicious.
Bill Wisniewski
LAS VEGAS
