Hepatitis C at the Shadow Lane clinic. Six of those cases, including Martin’s, are believed to have been contracted on Sept. 21, 2007. A total nine cases have been linked to two clinics and health officials have listed an additional 105 cases as “possibly related.” Some nurse anesthetists and other staff of the now-closed facility have told health officials that they were instructed to reuse syringes and medication vials when administering sedation to patients during a nearly four-year span.Assembly Bill 10, if passed, would prohibit retaliation or discrimination against registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and nursing assistants who report information relating to the safety of patients to regulatory agencies. Assembly Bill 206, also discussed today, gives the Nevada State Health Division the power to immediately issue a cease and desist order on a facility where patient safety is in question until after an investigation.
The bill would require these physician offices to undergo annual inspections and obtain a permit to provide sedation, which would cost thousands of dollars depending on the number of procedures that occur at the office. Senate Bill 70 has similar aims. The bill also gives the health division the power to take control of all medical records at a facility believed to be a danger to patients.
