Hepatitis Scare Prompts State Wide Inspection

Scott Kappes

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Over the weekend the Las Vegas Sun reported that a local clinic might have exposed up to 40,000 patients to a risk of hepatitis and HIV. The Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada should have been inspected by state health organizations every three years, but had not been inspected over seven years. In order to lower costs that clinic allegedly reused syringes and vials and skimped on virtually every hygienic practice. The clinic has since been closed and the owner, Dr. Dipak Desai, may soon be facing criminal charges.

The clinic specialized in colonoscopies that were allegedly preformed in an assembly line style. Patients were hurried through the process in only a few minutes and would often be out the door in less than 15 minutes after the procedure began. Former employees claim that Dr. Desai was more concerned with quantity than quality, saying that, "he was the fastest endoscopist in town." Investigators have discovered that at least two patients had their colons perforated during one of Desai's speedy procedure.

Reports claim that the clinic cut corners in nearly every way they possibly could. A Nevada State Senator Joe Heck wrote a letter to Governor Jim Gibbons expressing his disgust with the alleged practices of the clinic. Heck who is currently practicing in Iraq as part of the U.S. Army Reserves said these practices would not be acceptable in a war zone or even under Third World conditions.

Dr. Desai declined to be interviewed but took an ad out in the local paper claiming that he did nothing wrong.