Article Contributed on: 3/5/2008 12:29:58 AM
Las Vegas Clinic re-use of syringes.
We don't expect to see re-use of syringes other than in third world countries. This endangerment of people for Hepatitis B, HIV, etc. is just unbelievable. I have been aware of some reports in the recent past where even American doctors were, on occasion, not very rigorous in following all aspects of sterile technique, including thorough hand-washing. I always wondered, since these reports were relatively recent, if these doctors were young men and women in the 50's and 60's, and if there was somewhat too much of the lack of discipline and other aspects of the counter-culture that rubbed off on them. It would be interesting to do a public health study of this, and other possible contributing factors. For a number of years we had a much less rigorous, much more permissive Spock-induced culture in child-rearing.
Isn't this Las Vegas case one in which permanent loss of licenses and castration of all the involved people, (owners, doctors, nurses, observers), might be considered, so they neither continue in their criminal activities, nor pass on their genes? Now, that would be a bit drastic; but you get the feeling about how disgusted I feel.
There is even word now that endoscopy equipment (like esophagoscopes) may have been re-used without rigorous sanitization. Mercifully one hopes we won't hear of interchanging colonoscopes and esophagoscopes next.
Del Knudson
Admittedly, re-use of a syringe isn't quite as likely to transfer disease as re-using the needle also, which has been common practice in many third-world countries like the Eastern European Countries, Albania, Romania, etc., many countries in Africa; but still, unacceptable. The UN and WHO have been horrified when they have had large communities immunized only to find that more possible harm was done than good, because these poor people were saving the needles and syringes and reusing them out of a misinformed, misplaced sense of frugality. You can follow these discussions and lectures on The Research Channel, locally Cable Channel 54.
While in Morocco, I took a local employee of our military base into town for treatment. We had an agreement with the Moroccan government which said that they would treat their own people; and we were not allowed to do so. I took one fellow in who had gotten a long laceration of his face, with considerable bleeding, but not life-threatening. I began to watch as 6 men held him down on a bare table (no anesthesia or analgesia), and took an 8 inch curved needle from a tray and sewed up his face. There was no obvious evidence that the needle had been sterilized. We would probably use such a huge needle to sew up a laceration on a horse. I could only watch them began, and then hurried outside, for I could stand no more.
It is always risky to react to the first news report of whatever (like someone being killed by lightning, only to find out later that the individual was only slightly discommoded from a cattle prod or something); but the early reports surely sound bad.
Delmar