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Outrageous Stonewalling

Las Vegas Sun May 8, 2008

A refusal by the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners to honor a request for records by Metro Police is earning harsh and well-deserved criticism.

Metro detectives asked for the records as part of their investigation into this year’s hepatitis C outbreak that has been traced to negligent medical practices at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada, a Las Vegas outpatient clinic.

The detectives’ request was simple. They wanted copies of any complaints that had been filed with the board against Dr. Dipak Desai, majority owner of the Endoscopy Center.

Astonishingly, the board said no.

Las Vegas Sun reporter Marshall Allen, in a story Wednesday, recounted the reaction of Chief District Attorney Scott Mitchell, one of the prosecutors in the Desai case.

“I think they (the board members) are so far removed from what they’re supposed to be doing that it hasn’t occurred to them that they’re protection for the public, not interference for the doctors,” Mitchell said.

Allen also talked with Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, chairwoman of the Legislative Committee on Health Care. “Given the circumstances of this tragedy in Las Vegas ... I just find it appalling that they would throw up roadblocks to law enforcement getting what they need,” she said.

State law is crystal clear that the board has full authority to cooperate with police.

Responding to Allen’s story, Tony Clark, executive director of the Medical Examiners Board, said Wednesday afternoon that the Metro detectives would receive the requested records.

The police investigation is in response to the Feb. 27 announcement by Southern Nevada Health District officials that a hepatitis C outbreak eight cases have so far been confirmed had been traced to procedures at the Endoscopy Center during anesthesiology.

Syringes were routinely reused, as were vials with medicine left over from another patient’s injection. About 50,000 former patients of the now-closed center have been advised to get their blood tested.

Clark says he is now cooperating, but it remains utterly incomprehensible why the detectives’ initial request wasn’t honored immediately.

77 More Hepatitis Cases May Trace to Vegas Clinic

The 77 people are among about 400 former patients of the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada who tested positive for the potentially deadly virus since the outbreak was made public Feb. 27, and who provided no other risk factors during follow-up interviews, said Brian Labus, senior epidemiologist with the Southern Nevada Health District.

The 77 cases of hepatitis C combined with those confirmed earlier bring the number of cases linked to clinics run by the same group of doctors to 85.

Authorities can't say for sure how the 77 people were infected, Labus said, but they know each was treated from March 2004 to Jan. 11 this year at the clinic.

"We know they didn't have a positive test before they went to the clinic, and now they're positive," Labus said.

"They have the obvious risk factor, but we can't say for certain," Labus added. "This is as far as we can go with these cases."

Gov. Jim Gibbons said word of the additional cases "is both heartbreaking and disturbing." He added he expects the state Board of Medical Examiners to move quickly to "ensure that the physicians who played a role in these infections aren't practicing medicine while these investigations are ongoing."

Officials determined the more than 300 other patients who also tested positive and were interviewed could have contracted the virus through other means, including intravenous drug use, blood transfusions, organ transplants or kidney dialysis, receiving blood clotting agents before 1987, or sexual contact with a person with hepatitis C.

Many more people who have tested positive for hepatitis C have yet to be interviewed, Labus said.

"This is the first of many of these types of reports that will come out when we have data," Labus said. "There is no way to project how many people will test positive."

Labus and Jennifer Sizemore, spokeswoman for the Las Vegas-based health district, said local labs have reported handling about 50,000 hepatitis virus tests in the 10 weeks since officials issued a call for former patients at the clinic to get tested for hepatitis strains C, B, and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Labus said no cases of hepatitis strain B or HIV have been linked to the outbreak.

Investigators found no obvious new exposure clusters like those found with the original seven acute hepatitis C cases linked to the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada, Labus said. They were linked by DNA testing to several treatment dates last year. The eighth case of hepatitis C was traced to a sister clinic, Desert Shadow Endoscopy Center.

The clinics were headed by doctors Dipak Desai and Eladio Carrera, whose Nevada medical licenses have been suspended pending state Board of Medical Examiners hearings.

Authorities have said at least 50,000 patients may have been exposed to unsafe injection practices by clinic staff who reused syringes and single-use vials of medication during anesthesia.

"Because the patient list we received was not complete, we cannot say for certain if all of the affected patients have been tested," Dr. Lawrence Sands, chief district health officer, said in a statement.

"The health district continues to receive a higher number of positive test results than we did before the notification in February," he said.

Sands said patients who underwent procedures at the clinic in late 2007 or early 2008 will need to be tested in coming months because it can take up to six months for a positive test result to occur.

Las Vegas police have seized medical records from the clinic, and the FBI, the Nevada state attorney general and the Clark County district attorney are involved in a criminal investigation.

The owners of the clinics have surrendered business licenses and paid $500,000 in fines.

Board Chief Fires Back, Backs Off

By Marshall Allen May 8, 2008

The executive director of the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners unleashed a tirade against a county prosecutor Wednesday before saying the board would comply with a request to turn over to investigators any complaints in its files about Dr. Dipak Desai, whose clinic was the source of the largest hepatitis C scare in the nation.

The medical board’s Tony Clark called the Las Vegas Sun on Wednesday incensed about a story in the newspaper. The story reported that Scott Mitchell, Clark County chief deputy district attorney, said the medical board had refused to turn over any of the confidential complaints it has received about Desai. The board had apparently lost sight of protecting patients in its efforts to run interference for doctors, Mitchell said.

In Clark’s call to the Sun, he said in a raised voice: “My reaction is that Scott Mitchell is a liar, and he’s unethical and unprofessional.”

Mitchell’s allegation that the medical board has not cooperated with police is “a (expletive) lie!” Clark said, adding, “Quote me.”

Clark said he was going to file a complaint against Mitchell with the State Bar of Nevada for leaking a grand jury subpoena to the media to “put pressure on the board and aggrandize himself.”

Mitchell, however, had told the Sun only that Metro detectives were stonewalled when they asked the board to turn over any complaints against Desai. Told by a reporter Wednesday that Mitchell had never mentioned a grand jury subpoena, Clark said of the Sun’s story, “Maybe I didn’t read close enough.”

Later Wednesday, Mitchell responded to Clark’s comments by saying that the police investigation of Desai is well-known and no law prohibits a prosecutor from divulging that Metro detectives had requested records from the board.

The Sun’s story said Lyn Beggs, the medical board’s deputy general counsel, had declined to comment about the specific police request. But Beggs said such requests are routinely denied because state law requires that information about doctors remain confidential unless it has resulted in formal discipline.

The Nevada attorney general’s office, however, believes the law makes an exception for criminal investigations to allow release of complaints, Chief Deputy Attorney General Christine Guerci-Nyhus told the Sun.

Guerci-Nyhus, whose duties include acting as an adviser to the medical board, said she was not consulted by the board on the matter until May 1 — more than a week after Metro’s initial request.

Clark had not returned the Sun’s calls Tuesday as the newspaper prepared its story. “I was busy,” said Clark, who also serves as the board’s acting general counsel. “I have other things to do than call reporters.”

Asked to explain how Mitchell lied, Clark said the medical board has until today to comply with the subpoena, and that while the board initially told investigators it would not turn over any confidential complaints, it later decided to do so as long as they remained confidential.

“The point is that we’re trying to cooperate and respond and provide everything that they want without violating the confidentiality that’s required of us,” Clark said.

Clark then reeled in his rhetoric, saying he’d “flamed up” and may have “mischaracterized” Mitchell by calling him a liar.

“I probably shot myself in the foot,” he said quietly.

Mitchell said Clark is “100 percent wrong” about the medical board’s cooperation with the police investigation.

“Three times we were told, ‘Absolutely not, you’re not going to get (the complaints), and if you want to litigate we’ll take it up to the highest court,’ ” Mitchell said. “They told us directly they’re not going to give it to us, and basically threw down the gauntlet — they would not just insist they would not divulge it, but they would fight it legally.”

Mitchell said the discussions were with Beggs, not Clark, and that the most recent denial of the request came Friday.

After learning of the board’s later decision to release the documents, Mitchell said he’s now optimistic that police will get what they need for a thorough investigation.

In a separate action, the attorney general’s office announced Wednesday that the extension of the temporary restraining orders that prevent Desai and his partner Dr. Eladio Carrera from practicing have been extended. Desai agreed not to practice until the medical board completes its disciplinary actions, and Carrera will not practice until a hearing can be held July 16, officials said.

Clinic Patients’ Choice: Recourse or Privacy

By Jeff German, Las Vegas Sun May 10, 2008

Hundreds of plaintiffs suing over Southern Nevada’s hepatitis C scare could wind up victims of the court system, as the massive litigation embarks on a course destined to pry into their personal lives.

On Friday, Floyd Hale, the lawyer tapped to be the District Court “special master” coordinating the gear-up phase of the lawsuits, met for several hours with batteries of lawyers on both sides to decide how far the defense can intrude on the privacy of the plaintiffs.

The sometimes heated debate illustrated the emerging complexities of the potentially lengthy and expensive litigation and how difficult it will be to identify exactly how the plaintiffs were infected.

Lawyers for the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada and its chief operator, Dr. Dipak Desai, came to court armed with a 27-page questionnaire that they wanted all of the infected plaintiffs to fill out before proceeding further with their legal claims.

The questionnaire touched on a variety of personal subjects, including the medical history of the plaintiffs, whether they have ever injected heroin, cocaine or methamphetamine and how many sexual partners and what kind of sex they have had throughout their lives.

Daniel Curriden, who represents the endoscopy center, said the questionnaire was necessary to help his client defend itself in the civil litigation. The hepatitis B and C viruses and HIV can be contracted in many ways, making it difficult to put the blame solely on Desai and his clinics.

But the plaintiffs’ lawyers were incensed over the personal nature of many of the questions and, after a little haggling, persuaded Hale to remove some of them.

Hale makes recommendations to District Judge Allan Earl, who has the final say.

Ed Bernstein, one of the lead lawyers on the plaintiffs’ side, said during a break that the questionnaire was “humiliating” and “embarrassing” to his clients, many of whom are senior citizens.

“It’s designed to intimidate them and deter them from pursing their case,” he said.

The questionnaire, Bernstein added, was also aimed at deflecting responsibility for what happened away from the endoscopy center, which has been accused of causing a hepatitis outbreak by reusing syringes and single-dose vials.

Hale said his recommendation to Earl will be that plaintiffs who contend they contracted hepatitis C from Desai’s clinics would have to identify their sexual partners within the past 15 years. Those who alleged they now have HIV would have to go back 10 years.

Will Kemp, another lawyer for the plaintiffs, complained to Hale that many of the questions unfairly intruded upon the sex lives of the plaintiffs. The questions offered no potential value as evidence, Kemp said.

The special master agreed, cutting several other sex questions, including one asking men if they ever had sexual relations with a man.

Hale also refused to allow a question asking plaintiffs whether they have participated in an alcohol or substance abuse program. And he cut a question asking whether a plaintiff had ever undergone a Botox injection.

A question about whether a plaintiff had ever snorted cocaine was changed for clarity reasons to whether the plaintiff had ever “shared a straw or other paraphernalia while snorting cocaine.” Curriden said some medical journals have reported that hepatitis C can be contracted by snorting cocaine from a straw used by someone infected with the virus.

Dozens of other personal questions, however, were left intact.

And defense lawyers will be allowed to ask during depositions, if necessary, many of the questions stricken from the questionnaire.

City Decides How Hepatitis Fine Will be Spent

Melissa Duran, Reporter Las Vegas Now May 8, 2008

City leaders have decided on what they believe is the best way to spend $500,000 to help in the valley's current health crisis. Attorneys for the Endoscopy Center on Shadow Lane gave city leaders a half a million dollars one month ago as part of a civil fine.

The mayor immediately decided the money would go to help in the current health crisis, but several agencies requested it. Wednesday, we found out exactly who's going to get it.

It's not a lot of money when you consider the magnitude of the valley's current health crisis. Still, Metro, the district attorney's office and Nevada Health Centers all took a stab at getting a piece of $500,000 paid out to the city.

They all got their wish.

The city will give Metro $161,000 to partially pay them back for a company they hired to organize thousands of patient files.

"Metro put forth the money to get this company online because of the fact that we needed to move -- there was too much delay," said Capt. Al Salinas of Metro.

The district attorney's office will also get $100,000 to help with prosecution of the case. But if charges aren't filed in this hepatitis case, the DA's office won't get any money.

Christopher Lalli, Assist. District Attorney said, "We don't want this to be perceived as a money grab on behalf of the DA's office. We want the council to have the assurances that we wouldn't use this money unless a prosecution developed."

But the biggest chunk will go to those who need it most -- the patients. The city has dedicated $239,000 to get those infected with hepatitis C from that clinic the help they need. The money will be given out in a grant to Nevada Health Centers.

"Our role is one of bringing the community together to try to assist getting patients care regardless of their ability to pay," said Dr. Carl Heard, Nevada Health Centers, Inc.

Mayor Oscar Goodman is pleased with the city's decision on how to divvy up the money but says other government entities need to start pitching in.

"Step up. This council stepped up, I ask myself sometimes what would happen if this council didn't shut them down, it might still be going on," said Mayor Goodman.

The city manager says they will work with Nevada Health Centers to figure out the best way to spend the money on patient treatment. NHC says that some money will probably be spent on patients who were infected with hepatitis C as a result of this clinic.

Grand Jury Enters Medical Case

By PAUL HARASIM LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL May 08, 2008

When a Las Vegas police request to see any complaints brought against Dr. Dipak Desai was rebuffed by the Nevada Board of Medical Examiners, a Clark County grand jury issued a subpoena compelling the board to release the documents.

Even after receiving the subpoena about two weeks ago, Tony Clark, the board's executive director, acknowledged that he did not immediately agree to allow investigators to see complaints about the physician whose clinics might have exposed more than 50,000 patients to hepatitis C, hepatitis B and HIV.

"I have to be careful to protect records that are confidential by statute," Clark said Wednesday, adding that he now has concluded that state law allows him to release otherwise confidential records to law enforcement officials investigating a possible criminal action. "I let them see what I knew was public right away."

The one complaint made public against Desai was filed in 1996. He was fined $2,500 for false advertising at the clinic.

Clark, who is also the board's acting general counsel, noted that complaints against physicians that do not result in disciplinary action are generally confidential.

But Deputy District Attorney Scott Mitchell, one of the prosecutors handling the Desai case, said that state law allows records to be turned over for a criminal investigation.

"The board needs to work on behalf of the public, not the doctors," Mitchell said.

"I'm going to make sure they (investigators) get what they want," Clark said. "We're working with the attorney general's office to make sure this is done right."

On the same day that Clark said he would work to let investigators see all the complaints they wanted, Desai and Dr. Eladio Carrera agreed to extensions of the temporary restraining orders issued last week that bar them from practicing medicine.

Desai's agreement extends his medical license suspension until the State Board of Medical Examiners completes its disciplinary proceedings. Carrera agreed to an extension of his suspension until a July 16 court hearing.

The agreements mean court hearings scheduled this morning for Desai and Monday for Carrera will not be held, said Nicole Moon, spokeswoman for the attorney general.

District Court judges last week issued the restraining orders at the request of the medical board, which said they were necessary "to protect the public from further harm."

The doctors each performed procedures on three patients who contracted hepatitis C at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada because of unsafe injection practices, according to court documents.

A source familiar with the criminal investigation of Desai said officials with the district attorney's office got the grand jury subpoena for police after Clark made it clear that he never would let police see all records pertaining to Desai.

"I'll be honest with you," Clark said. "I was a little surprised a grand jury got involved this early."

The subpoena was obtained from a seated grand jury, but a grand jury has not yet been empaneled in connection with the outbreak investigation, according to the source.

Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, chairwoman of the Legislative Committee on Health Care, said it is "now more clear than ever" that the board acts only in "response to pressure."

She noted that the board got Desai to volunteer to stop practicing medicine only after a public hearing at which officials and former patients wondered why he still was allowed to practice. And she recalled that the temporary restraining orders filed by the board against Desai and Carrera came after legislators demanded action. "The board is not working on behalf of the public," she said. "It probably has to be replaced."

Leslie called it inappropriate that Clark serves as both executive director and acting general counsel to the medical board.

"The board needs an independent counsel," she said. "It definitely needs some good legal advice. This is embarrassing, to slow down a criminal investigation."

In documents prepared by city officials that resulted in the closure of Desai's Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada, the physician was accused of ordering nurses to reuse syringes and single-use drug vials to save money. Those practices, public health officials say, led to eight confirmed cases of hepatitis C.

Hundreds of former patients who have been tested for blood-borne diseases have now learned they have hepatitis, according to their lawyers.

A public health investigation is under way to determine just how many cases can be linked to Desai's clinics.

Both Mitchell and Clark are unsure when Las Vegas police investigators actually will look at Desai's records. "It could be this week if we get the green light," Mitchell said.

It is too early to tell whether physicians will be prosecuted for their actions in the hepatitis outbreak, he said.

"We should know by June or July," Mitchell said. "But I can tell you this: Cops get prosecuted; lawyers get prosecuted. There is no statutory or moral exception from prosecution for doctors."

Hepatitis Doctor's Assets Investigated

Reporter Edward Lawrence, Las Vegas Now May 8, 2008

New details have been uncovered about the hepatitis investigation and the assets of the doctors at the heart of the hepatitis scare.

Two days of digging uncovered some of Doctor Dipak Desai's assets. He owns and 8,700 square foot house in Red Rock Country Club, bought it for $3.4 million in 2004. Desai also owns vacant land across from the downtown condo complex, Juhl.

Desai and Doctor Eladio Carrera also own part of the Nevada Mutual Insurance Company. The company covers doctor's medical malpractice. Desai was a director.

Dr. Carrera owns a 6,700 square foot home in the TPC Canyons Golf Course community. It was purchased in 2000 for $1.5 million.

Those are assets attorneys will go after.

A judge ordered that Dr. Desai, his wife, Dr. Carrera, and any business they own, may not move more than $50,000 without court approval. Attorney's representing patients worry the doctor's will hide assets.

"To make sure they are not depleting the assets of these entities and these positions in an effort to thwart any judgment," said attorney Robert Eglet.

More than 2,000 boxes of documents from the Endoscopy Centers were moved Wednesday.

Metro Police confiscated the documents and are now handing them over to a medical records company. Within the next 30 days they will be sorted, indexed and ready for patients as well as the criminal investigation. Police detectives never realized the minefield they stepped into when serving nine search warrants at local surgical centers.

Metro Capt. Al Salinas says he heard the four doctors who own the centers in question were attempting to destroy records, and that's why the police acted so quickly.

"We are not in the business of managing medical files, that is correct. Therefore, we reached out to a professional organization that does that," said Salinas.

Capt. Salinas says Metro has had 1,700 requests for the confiscated medical records, but have only been able to respond to 100. The contracted records company will hopefully speed up the process.

Salinas says representatives from the company could not believe how incomplete and unorganized the center's patients records were kept.

"Once this information is indexed and filled and managed and organized, we can access that information as well," he said.

That should also speed up the criminal investigation into the doctors, nurses and administrators involved with the centers reusing syringes and single dose vials.

One attorney alone suing the doctors says that he has 850 patients testing positive for hepatitis. He says they were infected at the Endoscopy Center.

Judge Restricts Doctors' Assets

By BRIAN HAYNES REVIEW-JOURNAL

Amid worries that doctors tied to the hepatitis C outbreak might try to hide assets overseas, a district judge on Tuesday ordered two physicians to get court approval for large financial transactions.

District Judge Allan Earl also gave lawyers for patients suing the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada permission to start probing financial records of the clinic and its doctors.

"This is such an extraordinary case that I think extraordinary measures are allowed," Earl said in issuing the rare preliminary injunction.

Lawyer Robert Eglet, who represents hundreds of former clinic patients, said he had never seen such an order in his 20 years of practicing law in Las Vegas.

The judge's order requires Drs. Dipak Desai and Eladio Carrera to get the judge's OK for any financial transactions of $50,000 or more.

Desai was the clinic's majority owner. Carrera owned a minority share.

A Southern Nevada Health District investigation linked each doctor to three patients who contracted hepatitis C because of unsafe injection practices at the clinic. Judges temporarily suspended their medical licenses last week pending District Court hearings scheduled in the coming week.

In issuing his decision, Earl threatened the doctors with "sterner measures" if they tried to skirt his order by using multiple transactions just under the $50,000 limit.

"The bottom line is, don't do it," he said.

Lawyers for Endoscopy Center patients had filed the motion to monitor the doctors' assets to ensure they were available to satisfy potential jury awards. The patients' lawyers don't think the doctors' insurance policies will cover what could be large awards for punitive and other damages for the growing number of infected patients and the thousands of patients who sought blood testing because of possible exposure.

"Without some oversight, supervision and control, by the time we get a verdict here ... there's not going to be any money to collect," said lawyer John Muije, who was hired by Eglet's firm.

If the doctors were allowed to move money overseas, getting to it would be all but impossible, he said.

"I've chased a lot of people for a lot of money over the years, and I've never been able to get a dime out of a Swiss bank account." he said.

To support his argument, Muije referenced recent media reports that Desai tried to move two Mercedes-Benz sedans to Dubai.

Desai's lawyer, Dominique Pollara, called the reports "absolutely baseless." Desai had tried to pay off the leases and sell the cars to a buyer in Houston without knowing what the buyer intended to do with the cars, she said. The sale fell through.

Desai isn't trying to move assets out of the U.S., she said.

"He's a U.S. citizen," she said. "He's a resident of this state and this city. He does not intend to go anywhere."

Arguing on behalf of all the doctors, Pollara called the preliminary injunction unfair because it infringed on their right to use their money without due process.

"It's an unwarranted intrusion on the defendants' property rights," Pollara said. "These physicians have lives to run. They have bills to pay. ... Why should there be such scrutiny and oversight of their personal finances? It's unwarranted."

An Aug. 26 court date was scheduled to revisit the issue and whether the injunction should be extended.

Medical Board Refuses to Release Desai Complaints

By Marshall Allen, Las Vegas Sun Wed, 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.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Scott Mitchell, one of the prosecutors handling the Desai case, says the medical board has refused to comply with a request from Metro Police detectives for any complaints against Desai that have been filed with the board. The request by police is allowable under Nevada law.

Mitchell said the medical board has lost sight of its primary mission.

“I think they are so far removed from what they’re supposed to be doing that it hasn’t occurred to them that they’re protection for the public, not interference for the doctors,” Mitchell said of the medical board. “They’re running interference for doctors is what they’re doing.”

Desai, the majority owner of the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada, has been accused of ordering his nurses to reuse syringes and single-use medicine vials to save money. The dangerous injection practices led to eight people being infected with hepatitis C and about 50,000 being told to get tested for infectious diseases, according to the Southern Nevada Health District. Metro Police are investigating whether the medical neglect of Desai and others caused substantial bodily harm to patients.

A source familiar with the investigation said the decision to refuse Metro’s request was made by Tony Clark, the board’s executive director and acting general counsel, and Lyn Beggs, the deputy general counsel. Clark did not return calls for comment. Beggs said she would not comment on the specific case, but that generally speaking complaints that have not resulted in disciplinary action are confidential under Nevada Revised Statute 630.336, Subsection 4.

“We complied with the subpoena with any public information we had and provided that to them,” Beggs said.

Mitchell noted that Subsection 6 says the board may turn records over for a criminal investigation. It says in part: “This section does not prevent or prohibit the Board from communicating or cooperating with any other licensing board or agency or any agency which is investigating a licensee, including a law enforcement agency.”

Investigators on Thursday sought the advice of Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto’s office and learned there was no problem with the board’ releasing the complaints for the sake of a criminal investigation.

But on Friday the medical board again refused to turn over the complaints.

The attorney general’s office did not reply to the Sun’s request for comment.

Sources close to the investigation are now concerned that the longer the wait for the records that have been requested, the greater the chance they will be destroyed or lost.

The board, which has strong connections to Desai, has been widely criticized for the way it has handled the Endoscopy Center investigation. Before Desai was disgraced by the hepatitis C scandal, he was one of Nevada’s most prominent doctors. He is a former member of the medical board, and three current board members have had to recuse themselves from the investigation into his conduct because of their close ties. One founded an insurance company with Desai, another has done consulting work for him and the third is his personal physician.

Clark assured Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie during Tuesday’s meeting of the Legislative Committee on Health Care that the medical board’s primary goal is to protect the public, not cover for doctors. She said she was dismayed to learn from the Sun that the medical board was refusing to comply with Metro’s request for complaints against Desai.

“This situation sounds like more stonewalling to me,” Leslie said. “Given the circumstances of this tragedy in Las Vegas, it’s almost incomprehensible that they would get in the way of law enforcement doing their job. I just find it appalling that they would throw up roadblocks to law enforcement getting what they need.”

Leslie said the Nevada law seems to clearly state that Metro should have access to the records. But it does not mandate that the medical board turn over the records, and Leslie said the law may need to be tightened.

But then she suggested a different approach to reform.

“I’m beginning to wonder if it’s the statute that needs tightening or if it’s the medical board that needs removing,” Leslie said. “Perhaps we need to start over with the medical board. This morning they said they are here to protect the public. But their actions this afternoon contradict their testimony. I would like to know why they’re not going to release that information.”

The nine-member board is appointed by the governor.

Leslie noted that it took nine weeks for the medical board to suspend Desai’s license, an action it could have taken days after the announcement that his clinic had caused the hepatitis C outbreak. The situation required aggressive action, she said, but the board has responded “with a cavalier attitude.”

Dr. Javaid Anwar, president of the medical board, did not return the Sun’s calls for comment.

Leslie also questioned why Clark is serving as both executive director and the acting general counsel.

“I don’t think that’s very healthy,” she said. “I don’t know of another organization that operates like that. How can you advise yourself if your actions are appropriate?”

Leslie said she’s lost faith in the medical board’s ability to protect the public.

On a separate front Tuesday, Clark County District Judge Allan Earl granted a motion by plaintiffs for a preliminary injunction barring the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada and Desai and partner Dr. Eladio Carrera from conducting any transaction of $50,000 or more without the court’s permission.

On April 30 the Sun reported that Desai had tried to ship his two Mercedes-Benzes to Dubai, and attorneys for people suing Desai were concerned that he might try to liquidate his assets, which would make it difficult for them to gain access to his money if there’s a judgment against him.

Desai’s lawyer, Dominique Pollara, from Northern California, said Desai is not trying to move any of his assets.

“He’s a U.S. citizen and has no intention going anywhere,” she said.

First Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed Against Clinic

Aaron Drawhorn, Reporter Las Vegas Now March 20, 2008

A local woman says the clinic at the center of the hepatitis C scare is responsible for her husband's death. The Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada is accused of putting some 40,000 lives in danger by reusing dirty syringes and medical vials.

Doctors had no idea how James Cromwell contracted hepatitis C, a disease that killed him, until they got a letter in January telling him to get tested. Now his wife is suing for wrongful death.

This is believed to be the first wrongful death lawsuit filed in connection with the health scare.

The family is confident their loved one's appointments at the Endoscopy Center amounted to a death sentence.

"It was very emotional. All I could do was cry," said Janice Cromwell. She misses her husband, James Ray, every day.

"He loved life. We always talked about growing old together," she said.

Ray, as she called him, was her companion -- her backbone. A loving father and longtime worker at the Tropicana, Ray had battled health problems before, but the family believes one of his treatments at the Endoscopy Center was what eventually killed him.

The wrongful death medical malpractice lawsuit alleges Ray contracted hepatitis C at the Endoscopy Center. Janice says his blood work never showed hepatitis C before he visited the clinic.

"He told me he was dying, but I waited until he told me before I could tell him that I know he was dying," she said.

It was a painful time for Janice. She had no idea how her husband of 34 years suddenly contracted a deadly disease.

A month after the disturbing discovery, Ray passed away. The cause on Ray's death certificate is liver disease secondary to hepatitis C.

"For you to have another week, year, five years for your loved one, how do you put a price on that? You really can't," she said.

Janice knows the lawsuit won't bring Ray back, but she wants the doctor at the center of it all to be brought to justice.

"You think I don't want him to pay? I want him to pay," she said.

James Ray Cromwell passed away in May 2006 at the age of 60. He left behind a wife, four children and four grandchildren. His widow plans to file a police report, hoping the DA charges the clinic's doctor with second degree murder.