Bossip Video

They are calling Dr. W. Scott Harrington a menace to society for using rusty instruments and drugs that expired in 1993!

According to NBC News:

The crisp, stucco exterior of an Oklahoma dental clinic concealed what health inspectors say they found inside: rusty instruments used on patients with infectious diseases and a pattern of unsanitary practices that put thousands of people at risk for hepatitis and the virus that causes AIDS. State and local health officials planned to mail notices Friday urging 7,000 patients of Dr. W. Scott Harrington to seek medical screenings for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV. Inspectors allege workers at his two clinics used dirty equipment and risked cross-contamination to the point that the state Dentistry Board branded Harrington a “menace to the public health.”

“The office looked clean,” said Joyce Baylor, who had a tooth pulled at Harrington’s Tulsa office 1½ years ago. In an interview, Baylor, 69, said she’ll be tested next week to determine whether she contracted any infection. “I’m sure he’s not suffering financially that he can’t afford instruments,” Baylor said of Harrington. Health officials opened their investigation after a patient with no known risk factors tested positive for both hepatitis C and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. After determining the “index patient” had a dental procedure about the likely time of exposure, investigators visited Harrington’s office and found a number of unsafe practices, state epidemiologist Kristy Bailey said. “I want to stress that this is not an outbreak. The investigation is still very much in its early stages,” Bailey said.

The Oklahoma Dentistry Board lodged a 17-count complaint against Harrington, saying he was a “menace to the public health by reasons of practicing dentistry in an unsafe or unsanitary manner.” Among the claims was one detailing the use of rusty instruments in patients known to have infectious diseases. “The CDC has determined that rusted instruments are porous and cannot be properly sterilized,” the board said. Health officials are sending letters to 7,000 known patients but cautioned that they don’t know who visited his clinics before 2007. The letters urge the patients to be tested for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV — viruses typically spread through intravenous drug use or unprotected sex, not occupational settings.

Harrington could not be reached for comment Thursday. A message at his Tulsa office said it was closed, and the doctor’s answering service referred callers to the Tulsa Health Department. Phone numbers listed for Harrington were disconnected. A message left with Harrington’s malpractice attorney in Tulsa, Jim Secrest II, was not immediately returned. The doctor also is accused of letting his assistants perform tasks only a licensed dentist should have done, including administering IV sedation. Also, the complaint says the doctor’s staff could not produce permits for the assistants when asked.

Also, a drug vial found at a clinic this year had an expiration date of 1993 and one assistant’s drug log said morphine had been used in the clinic last year despite its not receiving any morphine shipments since 2009. Officials said patients will be offered free medical testing at the Tulsa Health Department’s North Regional Health and Wellness Center.

SMH. As much as dentists charge this guy can surely afford to get some new instruments and drugs.

We hope they shut this fool down and take away his license FOREVER!

HLTV

Comments

Bossip Comment Policy
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.