updated 12:04 PM EDT, Sun March 31, 2013
Dental patients tested for HIV, hepatitis
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: 420 people are tested for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV, health department says
- Scores of W. Scott Harrington's patients undergo tests at a Tulsa government building
- 7,000 patients of his patients were warned that they might have been exposed
- An investigation found unsanitary conditions and "cross-contamination" issues
On Saturday, scores of
his patients were waiting to be checked once again -- this time not to
replace missing teeth, say, but to find out whether they'd been exposed
to hepatitis or HIV.
By 3 p.m. local time
Saturday, one hour later than planned, some 420 people -- out of 7,000
of Harrington's patients from the past six years who health authorities
reached out to -- had been screened for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV
at the Tulsa Health Department. They came after investigators
discovered unsanitary, unprofessional conditions at Harrington's office
in Owasso, 14 miles northeast of Tulsa, that one official said created a
"perfect storm" for infections.
Within two weeks, those
tested Saturday (and when the screenings resume starting Monday) should
get the results back -- all because they'd gone to see an oral surgeon
with 35 years of experience.
HIV scare at dental office in Tulsa
Dentist's former patient: How could you?
Teen: I woke up and freaked out
HIV scare at dental office in Tulsa
"How do you say you're
sorry to 7,000 people that you could possibly have infected?" said
Melissa Wood, whose daughter -- a patient of Harrington's -- spent part
of her 18th birthday getting tested.
Harrington, 64,
surrendered his dental license on March 20 after health investigators
found sterilization, staffing and other infractions.
"I will tell you that
when ... we left, we were just physically kind of sick," Susan Rogers,
executive director of the Oklahoma Board of Dentistry, said earlier this
week. "That's how bad it was, and I've seen a lot of bad stuff over the
years."
The dentistry board
launched its probe after one of Harrington's patients came down with
hepatitis C. That patient originally tested positive for HIV, too, but a
subsequent test came back negative, the Tulsa Health Department said.
While other states
conduct random inspections of dentist offices with some regularity,
Rogers told the Tulsa World newspaper that dentists' offices in Oklahoma
are inspected only after a complaint is filed.
Investigators raised a
number of sterilization and "cross-contamination" alarms -- such as
"unauthorized, unlicensed" employees using IVs to sedate patients and
that needles weren't handled properly.
The outward cleanliness
of the office belied the mess elsewhere, Rogers said, noting that "just
basic universal precautions for blood-borne pathogens" weren't followed.
Besides being "unlocked
and unattended," the drug cabinet was rife with issues -- containing,
for example, a drug that expired in 1993 -- according to the official
complaint filed before the state dental board. Other records showed that
morphine had been used in patients throughout 2012, even though the
dentist had not received a morphine delivery since 2009.
Harrington and his
attorney have not returned multiple calls from CNN. And the oral surgeon
wasn't home when a CNN crew went there on Saturday.
"He seems highly
competent to me, just a smart guy," said Frank Dale, one of Harrington's
neighbors. "I was just shocked when I heard it. And I feel badly for
him. I feel badly for his patients."
A teenage patient, who asked not to be named, told CNN he had a bad experience at Harrington's office a year ago.
During a surgery to
remove three molars, he awoke momentarily to see profuse bleeding. He
said he became alarmed but was told to "shut up" and hold gauze in
place. When he awoke a second time, he was tied up on the floor.
Harrington's staff explained that he had been "combative" during the
operation, he said.
"I felt when I got out
of there and went through all I went through, I felt they didn't know
much of what they were doing at all," he said.
Wood's teenage daughter,
Marissa, said she finds it "horrifying" that her June 2011 visit to get
her wisdom teeth extracted may have put her at risk for HIV or
hepatitis. She remembered thinking of Harrington as a "really nice guy"
-- but that was then.
"I'm angry," she said. "I feel like he's ... let us down. I feel like he's let a lot of people down."
The U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention provides national guidelines for dental
offices to help prevent the spread of infections. They include cleaning
and sterilizing all nondisposable items such as dental tools between
patients, disinfecting surfaces and requiring staff members to wear
protective masks, gloves and eye wear.
Since 1991, only three
cases of dental infection in patients have been documented -- two with
hepatitis B and one with HIV, according to the CDC. No cases of
hepatitis C have been reported.
"This is exceedingly
rare," said Dr. Matt Messina, a consumer adviser and spokesman for the
American Dental Association, of the allegations levied against
Harrington. "I'm just angry, because this is a case, I think, so far
outside of the bounds of normal that it makes it remarkable."
The infection risks are
compounded given that Harrington told investigators he had a
higher-than-normal population proportionally of HIV and hepatitis
patients, Rogers said.
HIV is a condition that
over time destroys a body's immune system, thus its ability to fight
infections. If not treated, nearly all those infected with HIV will
develop AIDS, according to the National Institutes of Health. Hepatitis
-- the most common types being hepatitis A, B and C -- refers to
inflammation or viral infections of one's liver. Some 4.4 million
Americans have chronic hepatitis, though most of them don't know it, the
CDC says.
CNN's Greg Botelho and Mariano Castillo contributed to this report.
No comments:
Post a Comment