Story Archive

Narcotics case a first for Nevada

Judge rejects pharmacy liability, allows lawsuit in deadly crash to proceed against two doctors

Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2008

Nevada bartenders are not liable for customers who drive drunk, but should the same be true for pharmacists who provide pills to suspected drug addicts?

Foreign physicians back boss — to a point

Asked to state that their employer followed rules, only half swear to it

Saturday, Aug. 30, 2008

Dr. Rachakonda Prabhu, one of Nevada’s most politically connected physicians, is struggling to clear his name in the alleged abuse of a government program to employ foreign physicians in medically needy areas.

For pharmacy techs, drugs easy to steal

Low-paid workers have easy access to pills and little cause to fear prosecution

Monday, Aug. 25, 2008

Some of the main suppliers to drug dealers wear white lab coats.

Patient’s paperwork came first

Witnesses say they were shocked; hospital’s experts say staff did what they could

Sunday, Aug. 24, 2008

Morton Scheinbaum was moaning, his head resting on a desk, as he strained to answer the emergency room nurse’s questions.

Moving board out in open, past storm

That’s what new head of state’s medical licensing panel says he’ll set out to do

Saturday, Aug. 23, 2008

Louis Ling is about to sit on the hot seat as the new executive director of the Nevada State Medical Examiners Board.

How we come to accept wrong as the new right

‘Normalized deviance’ can lead to tragedy

Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008

Health care in Nevada seems to suffer from a normalization of deviance. In two recent high-profile cases — the hepatitis C crisis and the abuse of foreign doctors — professionals apparently ignored evidence of wrongdoing.

State confronts J-1 complaints

Billing probe launched; Vegas doctor told to rewrite contract for specialist he wants to hire

Friday, Aug. 8, 2008

In a series of unprecedented actions, state officials and a committee that oversees the hiring of foreign doctors have introduced new levels of accountability to a beleaguered program that allows foreign doctors to work in medically needy communities.

Doctor’s J-1 actions go under microscope

Physician accused in abuse of program applies to hire another foreign doctor

Thursday, Aug. 7, 2008

A state advisory committee today will examine the practices of a politically connected Las Vegas doctor who has been accused of exploiting foreign physicians — and now wants to hire another one.

Despite abuse reports, state sent accused employers more J-1 docs

After complaints they broke the law, partners approved for 5 more foreign physicians

Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2008

State officials not only ignored complaints that Las Vegas employers were abusing a government program involving foreign physicians, but allowed them to further exploit it, according to documents obtained by the Sun.

State knew of abuses, did almost nothing

Report rebuts assertions officials were in the dark about exploitation

Monday, Aug. 4, 2008

State officials have said for more than a year that they were unaware of complaints from foreign physicians that their bosses — most of them prominent immigrant doctors in Las Vegas — were getting rich by exploiting a program designed to help communities lacking medical providers.

Strapped Salvation Army ends free drug addict treatment

Thursday, July 31, 2008

The local Salvation Army, citing a $2 million budget deficit, says it will no longer accept unpaid referrals for its substance abuse program from the criminal justice system.

Overhaul of licensing agencies urged

Medical association: Umbrella group needed for fairness

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Triggered by perceived failures on the part of the Medical Examiners Board during the hepatitis C investigation, Nevada’s largest physician association is proposing an overhaul of every licensing agency in the state to improve accountability and restore public trust.

Lack of resources blocks treatment

Stretched substance abuse programs struggle to cope with Nevada’s growing number of prescription narcotic addicts

Monday, July 28, 2008

She’s a mother of three, a hairdresser and on the brink of divorce, and this is how addicted she is to prescription narcotics: She gets so stressed just at the thought of quitting the drugs, she sweats and trembles, making her customers uncomfortable. So she pops Xanax to relax.

UnitedHealthcare releases payment schedule for vaccine

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Officials from UnitedHealthcare, the company that recently took over Sierra Health Services, have reported the rates they pay doctors for the chickenpox vaccine.

Start of school just got pricier

Have a kindergartner and health insurance? A state cutback has added an item to your shopping list when the school year rolls around.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Parents of incoming kindergarten students may have to pay for chickenpox vaccines that were previously offered for free, because Nevada has stopped picking up the tab for children who are covered by health insurance.

Trying to script a solution

Pervasive use of narcotic painkillers has expert panel debating how and why

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Sunday Conversation: Experts blame Nevada’s skyrocketing rate of prescription narcotic use on hurried doctors who don’t adequately examine the patient’s history and source of pain, leading to inadequate treatment and the risk of addiction.

Officials urge action on painkiller abuse

Lawmaker calls rising death toll from prescription drugs ‘shocking’

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

State legislators and regulators Monday called the Sun’s reports about the startling rise in the use of narcotic painkillers in Nevada a wake-up call to improve patient care in the state.

Rising use of painkillers taking deadly toll

Prescription drug deaths overtake those from street drugs

Monday, July 7, 2008

The New Addiction: Part 2: The skyrocketing use and abuse of prescription narcotics in Las Vegas is accompanied by a similarly startling increase in the number of fatal overdoses, a Sun analysis has found.

Police say armed OxyContin addict terrorized Henderson household

Monday, July 7, 2008

Illicit drug use has long been linked to crime. But with the surge in drug addiction linked to prescribed narcotics, there’s a new wrinkle in that crime.

The painful truth about Nevada

Many Nevadans crave painkillers, and some doctors oblige

Sunday, July 6, 2008

The New Addiction: Part 1: Nevadans consume about twice the national average of several prescription painkillers, making us among the most narcotic-addled populations in the United States, a Sun analysis has found.

Tracking Nevadans’ Appetite for Painkillers

Sunday, July 6, 2008

The Sun discovered the startling increase in the number of narcotic painkillers consumed in Nevada after analyzing several thousand pages of Drug Enforcement Administration reports on the production and distribution of controlled substances to pharmacies and health care practitioners in the United States.

Poll finds ill feelings on health care

Taken after the hepatitis C scare, it reveals mistrust and cynicism — and a desire for stricter regulation

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

A UNLV survey — the first of its kind — of public opinion in Clark County about the hepatitis C crisis shows a widespread distrust of health providers, a demand for accountability and, perhaps most surprising, a willingness to pay higher taxes for stricter regulation.

Doctor driven to start clinic for the uninsured

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Dr. Florence Jameson is trying to provide free health care to some of the uninsured residents of Clark County. The obstetrician-gynecologist who has worked in Las Vegas for more than 20 years has launched an effort to create Volunteers in Medicine of Southern Nevada.

Kidney transplant outcomes fell short

Low patient volume affected Sunrise program’s performance

Friday, May 16, 2008

By shuttering its kidney transplant program and shifting its patients to University Medical Center, Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center is shedding a fledgling program that consistently failed to meet expectations.

Letter to his boss faults Clark

Lawmakers cite delay in Desai investigation

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Two state legislators say the executive director of the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners has ignored the public interest by delaying the investigation of doctors who may have caused the largest hepatitis C scare in the nation.

Board chief fires back, backs off

Accused of hindering Desai probe, he blasts prosecutor, then backpedals; medical board to cooperate

Thursday, May 8, 2008

The executive director of the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners unleashed a tirade against a county prosecutor before saying the board would turn over to investigators any complaints in its files about Dr. Dipak Desai.

Medical board refuses to release Desai complaints

Group accused of protecting doctors, not public

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

The criminal investigation into the conduct of Dr. Dipak Desai, the physician at the center of the nation’s biggest hepatitis C scare, has hit a roadblock: the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners.

Peddling medical getaways

Salesmen beat drum for overseas operations on the cheap

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

With signs promoting trips to Singapore, Thailand and Monterrey, Mexico, the gathering might have been for travel agents.

Desai tried shipping vehicles overseas. Would he have followed?

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Dr. Dipak Desai, under investigation for his role in the nation’s biggest hepatitis C scare, tried shipping two personal luxury vehicles to Dubai.

At first blush, a tough J-1 board

Council formed in wake of criticism doesn’t roll over on first application

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Nevada’s latest effort to reform a program that brings foreign physicians to the state is off to a deliberate and disciplined start. For the first time ever, health care experts debated in public the merits of hiring arrangements for the physicians.

Foreign doctors get new guardians

Advisory council to keep spotlight on visa program that some employers abused

Friday, April 11, 2008

A program that a Sun investigation revealed had been widely abused by employers, leading to the exploitation of foreign doctors and neglect of medically needy patients, is taking another important step toward reform.

Patients give higher marks to nonprofits

For-profit hospitals dominate Vegas market, rank low in surveys

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Only four in 10 patients treated at Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center said they would definitely recommend the facility to their family and friends. And the numbers are almost as bad for many other for-profit hospitals in Las Vegas.

More unsanitary procedures documented

Clinic did 2-minute surgeries amid complaints by nurses, report finds

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

The disclosure in February that 40,000 people were at risk of infectious disease because of dangerous injection practices at a Las Vegas endoscopy clinic stunned a community already wary of the quality of health care.

Angry public, hopeful leaders

200 turn out to vent about health scare; leaders say Nevada has rare chance to fix system

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

The state faces a defining moment that will determine many future aspects of health care oversight and regulation as the public, reeling from the Endoscopy Center of Souther Nevada revelations, showed up in force at a meeting Monday before the state’s Legislative Committee on Health Care.

Clinic doctors finally to talk — under oath

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

The public may finally get answers — from doctors under oath — about the dangerous injection practices that led to the nation’s largest hepatitis C scare, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said Monday.

Endoscopy Center, doctors settle cancer suit

Expert: Colon malignancy missed

Friday, March 21, 2008

A lawsuit has been settled that claimed a doctor at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada — the source of the largest hepatitis C scare in the nation — missed a man’s cancer during a hastily performed colonoscopy.

Board chief: We did all we could

Medical board leader refuses Gibbons’ demand to resign

Thursday, March 20, 2008

The president of the Nevada Board of Medical Examiners said Wednesday that his agency took the strongest action it legally could against a doctor whose clinic caused the nation’s largest hepatitis C scare, and that he would refuse the governor’s demand that he resign because he did nothing wrong.

Your guide to the players

Thursday, March 20, 2008

A dizzying number of public agencies and private organizations are involved in the public health crisis that has resulted in 40,000 people being advised to seek testing for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV. What follows is a list of key players.

State Medical Board left out of loop

Investigations chief, slowed by others’ moves, vows to make up for lost time

Friday, March 14, 2008

Two weeks ago Doug Cooper read about the massive hepatitis C scare triggered at a Las Vegas clinic where nurses were engaging in dangerous injection practices, apparently at the direction of their boss, a doctor.

Hospital defends its $1 million deal

Some county officials critical of easy approval

Thursday, March 13, 2008

University Medical Center officials and some Clark County leaders continued Wednesday to defend a pricey hospital contract awarded last year to Dr. Dipak Desai, whose clinics are at the center of an unprecedented infectious disease crisis.

Former patient sues clinic, doctor, says rushed exam missed colon cancer

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Kevin Rexford’s main concern isn’t whether he left the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada with hepatitis. Rexford says he left the center with cancer.

Another violation, many clinics

Anesthesiologist admits risky practice

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

A Las Vegas anesthesiologist told health inspectors he used injection practices similar to ones that have triggered the nation’s largest hepatitis C scare, adding a new wrinkle to a still-developing infectious disease crisis.

Assembly-line colonoscopies at clinic described

Unorthodox scheduling, billing practices saved money, witnesses say

Sunday, March 9, 2008

If you want to get a sense of the rushed medical procedures that patients encountered inside the clinic that triggered the unprecedented hepatitis scare, consider Duke Breuer’s experience. After undergoing a colonoscopy at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada, Breuer asked a nurse what he should do about the bandage on his right forearm. “Take it off when you get home,” the nurse said. Later, when the 78-year-old Breuer pulled up the tape, he started gushing blood. The IV needle had been left in his arm and he had accidentally yanked it out.

Feds’ blitz: 30 days, 50 clinics

Teams of investigators swooping into Nevada to get answers

Saturday, March 8, 2008

With patients in unprecedented numbers endangered by a Las Vegas endoscopy clinic, the state’s appetite and resources for regulating and enforcing laws governing medical practices are facing new scrutiny.

Tests may find existing cases, not clinic victims

Many have hepatitis C, don’t know it

Thursday, March 6, 2008

We may never know how many patients contracted infectious diseases at a clinic where unsafe injections were the cause of the largest hepatitis C scare in the nation.

OK, now I’ll ask the questions

State urges us not to take safe medical procedures for granted

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Nevada health care had a terrible reputation even before last week. But public trust in doctors and nurses may now be at an all-time low.
Already, the state ranks among the worst in the nation for numbers of doctors and nurses per capita, the number of uninsured patients, and the number of unvaccinated children.
Nevada now has the indignity of having the nation’s largest patient notification of a potential hepatitis C outbreak.

Questions on everyone’s mind

Hepatitis scandal raises many issues without ready answers

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

The widespread outrage surrounding the clinic that put 40,000 people at risk of infection with hepatitis B and C and HIV has focused on several questions. The answers may not satisfy the gut-level cries for justice.

Take a grain of salt and read this

Clinic owner defends practices in ad

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Dr. Dipak Desai has finally spoken out, buying a full-page advertisement to offer his first words about the unprecedented hepatitis C crisis likely triggered by faulty practices at one of his clinics. How forthcoming was he?

How hepatitis probe led to clinic

Old-fashioned legwork yielded clues that came together

Sunday, March 2, 2008

There was no cause for alarm when, on Dec. 4, health investigators learned of a case of acute hepatitis C.

City shuts clinic, with harsh words for owners

Official: Staff told to reuse vials, syringes to save money

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Turns out, it was greed. Dr. Dipak Desai, one of the state’s most prominent physicians, willfully chose to “mortally hazard his patients for profit” by operating an endoscopy clinic fraught with cost-cutting sloppiness, a Las Vegas city official said Friday.