Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

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Hepatitis scare

Dr. Dipak Desai, majority owner of the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada, leaves Las Vegas City Hall on March 3. Desai has surrendered his medical license pending the outcome of a state investigation.

Photo by Steve Marcus / Las Vegas Sun

Dr. Dipak Desai, majority owner of the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada, leaves Las Vegas City Hall on March 3. Desai has surrendered his medical license pending the outcome of a state investigation.

The largest hepatitis outbreak scare in the nation is playing out in Las Vegas, where 50,000 patients at an endoscopy center may have been exposed to infectious diseases because of unhygienic practices.

Share Your Experience

Patients and current or former employees of Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada who wish to share their experiences at the clinic are invited to e-mail Las Vegas Sun health reporter Marshall Allen.

So far, 114 patients have been identified by health authorities as having been potentially infected with hepatitis C at the clinic, which has been shut down — along with five sister clinics in the valley.

Criminal investigations are underway and the state’s medical and nursing boards are investigating the situation, which some nurses say was triggered by the clinic owner’s drive for profit at the expense of patient safety.

Frequently asked questions about the incident

Archive highlights

Voices of reason for health care crisis

Sun, Mar 16, 2008

In the midst of the largest hepatitis C scare in the nation’s history, many Nevadans have lost confidence in their health care providers. About 40,000 people have been told they ...

Assembly-line colonoscopies at clinic described

Sun, Mar 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 ...

How hepatitis probe led to clinic

Sun, Mar 2, 2008

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

All stories

Health district, humanitarian crusaders make the case for local needle exchanges

Mon, Apr 24, 2017

Deaths from opioid overdose have quadrupled since 1999. The CDC points to the dramatic rise in doctors prescribing oxycodone, fentanyl and methadone to treat pain — legal substances that can ...

Ex-doctor in Las Vegas hepatitis C case dies in prison custody

Tue, Apr 11, 2017

A once-prominent Las Vegas physician who was convicted of murder and 26 other charges in the largest hepatitis outbreak in Nevada history has died in prison custody, a state corrections ...

Ex-doctor in hepatitis C outbreak sentenced in federal case

Thu, Jul 9, 2015

A federal judge had scathing words for a once-prominent Las Vegas doctor he sentenced to almost six years and ordered to repay $2.2 million to insurance firms and the government ...

Ex-manager of clinic linked to hepatitis outbreak pleads guilty to fraud

Fri, Jul 11, 2014

Tonya Rushing to pleaded guilty on Thursday to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. She faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine at sentencing on Sept. ...

Jury convicts former doctor in Las Vegas hepatitis outbreak

Mon, Jul 1, 2013

A prominent former Las Vegas doctor and endoscopy clinic owner was convicted Monday of all 27 criminal charges against him — including second-degree murder — in a 2007 hepatitis C ...

Ex-nurse takes back testimony in hepatitis C case

Mon, Jun 10, 2013

A registered nurse who was fired from a Las Vegas outpatient medical clinic just prior to a 2007 hepatitis C outbreak returned to the witness stand Monday to tell a ...

Nevada Supreme Court wants briefs in Las Vegas hepatitis case

Tue, Apr 23, 2013

The Nevada Supreme Court is calling for quick briefings on a request to stop trial for former endoscopy clinic owner Dipak Desai (DEE'-pahk deh-SEYE') in a 2007 Las Vegas hepatitis ...

Lawyer asks high court to halt Las Vegas hepatitis C trial

Mon, Apr 22, 2013

A lawyer for former endoscopy clinic owner Dipak Desai (DEE'-pahk deh-SEYE') wants the Nevada Supreme Court to halt jury selection in the criminal case stemming from a 2007 Las Vegas ...

Lawyer to seek $1 billion award in Las Vegas hepatitis C case

Fri, Apr 5, 2013

A jury is slated to hear a lawyer's request to hold Nevada's largest health management organization liable for as much as $1 billion in punitive damages in a Las Vegas ...

Jury: HMO liable for $24 million in Las Vegas hepatitis C outbreak

Thu, Apr 4, 2013

A Nevada jury found the state's largest health management organization liable Thursday for $24 million in compensatory damages to three plaintiffs in a negligence lawsuit stemming from a Las Vegas ...

Court tosses racketeering charge in hepatitis case, allows other charges against Las Vegas doctor to stand

Mon, Dec 24, 2012

The Nevada Supreme Court has ruled that a racketeering charge against high-profile Las Vegas physician Dipak K. Desai be dismissed, but it permitted prosecution of Desai on other charges involving ...

Lawsuit seeks to block Desai bankruptcy discharge

Wed, Sep 12, 2012

The trustee appointed in the bankruptcy case against Dipak Desai, the Las Vegas physician at the center of the 2007-2008 hepatitis C scare, has filed a lawsuit asking the court ...

Lawsuits seek nearly $16.5 million from family of doctor in hepatitis C case

Wed, Sep 5, 2012

The wife and daughters of Dipak Desai, the high-profile physician facing a murder charge in connection with a hepatitis C scare that rocked Southern Nevada about four years ago, are ...

Indictment charges Las Vegas doctor, nurses with murder in hepatitis C death

Fri, Aug 10, 2012

Dipak Desai, the Las Vegas doctor at the center of the 2007-2008 hepatitis scare, and two of his nurses have been charged with second-degree murder. The charges come after the ...

Nevada may push more children's services onto community groups

Tue, Apr 24, 2012

Unable to provide services to the state’s youngest children with physical and developmental disabilities, the state is considering shifting more of the responsibility to nonprofit community providers.

Videos

IBTV: Jon Ralston:  Now That's Juice
IBTV: Jon Ralston: Now That's Juice
The owners of the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada must forfeit their business license and ...
Face to Face: Done Deal
Face to Face: Done Deal
The City of Las Vegas hearing into the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada was a ...
Endoscopy Public Comment
Endoscopy Public Comment
The massive hepatitis C scare is a defining moment in Nevada health care, for doctors, ...
Endoscopy Patient Reacts
Endoscopy Patient Reacts
Arnold “Duke” Breuer of Las Vegas went to a Quest laboratory Monday to have a ...
Hepatitis Scare Roundtable
Hepatitis Scare Roundtable
The Sun invited four experts to sit around a table and hold a conversation about ...
A Professional Approach
A Professional Approach
Senior epidemiologist Brian Labus shares his professional approach to the largest hepatitis C scare in ...

Slideshows

Endoscopy Center hearing
At a City Hall hearing Monday, attorneys representing the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada appealed ...