Testing is underway for the 9,500 patients who might have been exposed to infectious diseases at two clinics in Galveston County.
An audit of the Coastal Health and Wellness Center in Texas City and in Galveston showed 11 different life-threatening violations related to staff not cleaning or sterilizing instruments used during procedures.
The main concerns are for patients who had invasive procedures that may have been exposed to Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C and HIV.
On Monday, Coastal Health & Wellness Executive Director, Mary McClure and Governing Board Chair Dr. Milton Howard, held a press conference to respond to the investigation currently underway by the Galveston County Health District and Department of State Health Services investigation.
“Patient safety and employee safety are most important to us,” said McClure. “We have trained staff on sterilization equipment.”
Those at risk are patients from March 2015 to February 2017. The CHW website has red flagged 72 procedures from stitches to tooth extractions.
McClure admitted that although Coastal Health and Wellness stopped taking patients in February, the patients weren’t told why.
“We told them, when we were canceling their appointments, that we were doing some redesigns internally with our processes,” said McClure.
To date, no one has been fired.
On Monday, Barbara Winston went to the Texas City location trying to get information on her daughter’s behalf, currently recovering from a major heart attack.
“It's not right,” said Winston. “For me to tell her, you know, where you got your teeth fixed, that there's a possibility that you might have AIDS?! I don't know how she's going to accept that.”
Medical documents show Winston’s daughter paid more than $1,500 for her procedures, and now Winston worries for her daughter’s health and all the other patients.
“Millions of dollars that people have paid and then they what? They might have gotten something that's going to kill them? That they have to live with for the rest of their life? That's not fair.”
According to Galveston County Health District head Dr. Philip Keiser, the dental clinic at the Texas city location is the main concern.
Testing services are now ongoing as is a public hotline (409) 938-2397 for anyone with questions.
For more information visit Galveston County Health District website.