Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Two More Nevada Clinics Tied To hepatitis exposure scare Closed

The Henderson and North Las Vegas offices of a clinic at the center of a massive health alert were shut down by officials in the cities Tuesday.

Citing the public health emergency, officials in both cities ordered the Gastroenterology Center of Nevada to cease operations, effectively shuttering all but one of the group's facilities in the valley.

A Las Vegas office of the Gastroenterology Center of Nevada, 3150 Tenaya Way, remained open as of late afternoon Tuesday.

Clark County officials on Monday shut down three clinics owned by the medical group. Three days earlier, Las Vegas officials closed an endoscopy center on Shadow Lane where investigators found that staff reused syringes, contaminating vials of medication and infecting six people with hepatitis C.
Health officials have sent 40,000 letters to that clinic's patients, urging them to get tested for hepatitis C and B and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Henderson's action came after a city inspector was locked out of the medical group's office at 2610 W. Horizon Ridge Parkway, Suite 105.
City spokeswoman Cindy Herman said the inspector was allowed inside at first, but when he went out to his vehicle to get some business cards and other information, the office's front door was bolted shut behind him.

The city immediately moved to suspend the office's business license after that, Herman said. Within hours of Henderson's action, North Las Vegas officials ordered a similar office at 1815 E. Lake Mead Blvd., Suite 207, to close its doors.

The cease and desist order, signed by city Business License Manager Lana Hammond, said in part, "Your demonstrated willful failure to observe long accepted and mandated medical sanitary protocols jeopardizes the health and safety of all citizens of the City of North Las Vegas."
Read More at Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Review-Journal writer Jennifer Robison contributed to this report. Contact reporter Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0350. Contact reporter Lynnette Curtis at lcurtis@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0285.


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