Missed state inspections could have discovered clinic's violations

There is a possibility that unsafe procedures at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada--procedures that have placed 40,000 people at risk for three potentially fatal blood diseases--could have been discovered during scheduled state inspections. The Nevada agency in charge of inspecting medical facilities--the Nevada State Health Division's Licensure and Certification Bureau--issued a memo in 2001 promising complete inspections every three years. But the agency did not follow its own schedule.