Bill urging tests after arrests irks health board members

An Assembly bill designed to give police officers authority and the discretion to have people who are arrested also tested for communicable diseases has the Clark County Board of Health up in arms.

Assembly Bill 190, sponsored by Assemblyman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas, would mandate that an appropriate health authority be required to test individuals for HIV, hepatitis and any other communicable disease if an officer requests it.

Several members of the board Thursday expressed concerns that this might increase the number of unnecessary tests and cost the county thousands of dollars each year.

"This is a huge double-edged sword," board member Dr. Jim Christensen said. "As a physician, we have to be opposed to this because it would be unworkable. Testing would go through the ceiling."

Health district investigators estimate if only 5 percent of police officers requested the tests, that would cost the county $130,000 a year. Christensen said the percentage would be much higher, saying every time a police officer is spit upon a request for an HIV test is requested.

The board felt that the bill would mandate that the health district do testing, but failed to provide state funding. Member Erin Kenny said the bill might be more workable if it was amended to provide funding.

However, Fran Courtney, director of clinics and nursing services for the county, said a police officer in the field shouldn't have the final say on whether a person is tested. She said a medical professional should have that authority.

"The cost would be shifted to the county and then the health district," Courtney said of her other objection.

Problems arise, Kenny said, when people are placed in the Clark County Detention Center. While prisoners are tested routinely in traditional prisons, people may be in the detention center for up to a year, she said, and no tests are done.

"Aren't we going to be paying for it tenfold down the road?" Kenny asked. "We should be looking at this so we don't pay for it."

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