We’ve mentioned before that a Nevada clinic recently “reused syringes and vials,” ultimately exposing some 50,000 of the state’s residents to hepatitis C (here, here, here).
We’ve also mentioned an awful tendency on the part of state medical boards to look the other way when it comes to holding bad doctors accountable, which is why Public Citizen’s Health Research Group publishes an annual report showing which states are the most lenient in dealing with bad doctors.
Well unfortunately, this next item represents an awful merger of these two stories. In a sickening turn of events, it is being reported today that Dr. Eladio Carrera, whose license was originally suspended for 13 months for his role in the Nevada syringe scandal, has now had his punishment reduced to 24 months of probation, a public reprimand, and a $15,000 fine. In the meantime, announced Nevada’s Board of Medical Examiners (in a unanimous decision!), Dr. Carrera is free to resume treating patients in the state.
"The board isn't taking this seriously at all," said Gwendolyn Brown, 61, who became infected with hepatitis C as on of Carrera's patients. "You can't believe what you have to go through when you get hepatitis. Don't they realize how sick people get?"
"The only way to fix the medical board is to shut it down and start over with brand-new people," said Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, (D-Reno), whose committee investigated the Las Vegas outbreak. "There's a culture within the medical board that protects doctors and not the public. They should resign for the good of Nevada."
Meanwhile, injured Nevada patients are experiencing a double whammy because they are also suffering with a draconican “cap” on compensation should they pursue a medical malpractice case. The legislature still has not passed a bill to ease the cap in cases of “gross negligence,” as with the Hep C scandal.
And if President Obama’s has his way, a third whammy may be on the way, given his recent flirtations with “bargaining” away the rights of injured patients to gain conservative support for his national health plan.
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