Medical Design and Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • Med Tech Resources
    • DeviceTalks Tuesdays
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • The Big 100
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Video
  • 2022 Leadership in MedTech
    • 2022 Leadership Voting!
    • 2021 Winners
    • 2020 Winners
  • Women in Medtech

Reused Syringes Lead To Clinic Suspension

July 28, 2014 By AxoGen, Inc.

(AP) — A West Virginia board has suspended the license of the operator of a pain management clinic where investigators found syringes were being reused. It was the second disciplinary action involving the doctor’s license within a decade. Dr. Roland Chalifoux, Jr. wasn’t at the closed-door meeting of the West Virginia Board of Osteopathic Medicine, which took the action. He will be given 15 days to request a hearing.

Health officials in Ohio and West Virginia have advised patients who had an injection at Valley Pain Management between its 2010 opening and Nov. 1, 2013, to be tested for blood-borne infections after a patient contracted bacterial meningitis in October. Health officials said the clinic’s injection practices potentially exposed patients to diseases such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV. Board executive director Diana Shepard said Chalifoux is the only licensed doctor at the clinic in McMechen, effectively shutting down the business in West Virginia’s Northern Panhandle.

Shepard said the license suspension was “based on the lack of standard-of-care guidelines … not being followed in that office and the potential harm that could be caused to the public.” Chalifoux’s attorney, Elgine McArdle of Wheeling, didn’t immediately return a telephone message. West Virginia’s state epidemiologist Dr. Loretta Haddy has said an investigation found the clinic reused syringes on more than one patient, Chalifoux didn’t wear a surgical mask during epidural injections and that the facility had other sanitation and hygiene issues. Haddy declined to disclose where the meningitis diagnosis occurred.

Health agencies from Ohio and West Virginia had requested a patient list from the clinic in order to notify patients of their potential risk of exposure and testing options. When the clinic balked, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources subpoenaed the clinic for the list “and is prepared to institute additional legal action if the clinic does not comply,” DHHR spokesman Toby Wagoner said. McArdle has said a subpoena violates health privacy laws and she plans to make a motion to quash it.

In 2004, the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners revoked Chalifoux’s license for violating standards of care in his treatment of three patients, including the 1996 death of a 61-year-old man after unnecessary surgery was performed, according to the board’s final order. A Texas appeals court affirmed the license revocation.

The West Virginia Board of Osteopathic Medicine, which was aware of the disciplinary action in Texas, granted Chalifoux a restricted license in 2004 so he could complete a neurosurgery refresher course at West Virginia University’s medical school. An unrestricted license was granted in 2005. In reviewing Chalifoux’s file, Shafer noted that a decade ago the board took more than a year to review his original application. By comparison, most applications are reviewed in three to four weeks, she said.

Related Articles Read More >

Logos of Creo Medical and Intuitive
Creo Medical inks collaboration agreement with Intuitive
Lazurite ArthroFree wireless surgical camera system Minnetronix Medical
How Minnetronix Medical helped Lazurite with its wireless surgical camera
Medtronic Hugo robot-assisted surgery system
The road to a robot: Medtronic’s development process for its Hugo RAS system
A portrait of Stryker executive Siddarth Satish
How Stryker includes users for product design in the digital age

DeviceTalks Weekly.

May 20, 2022
DeviceTalks Boston Post-Game – Editors’ Top Moments, Insulet’s Eric Benjamin on future of Omnipod 5
See More >

MDO Digital Edition

Digital Edition

Subscribe to Medical Design & Outsourcing. Bookmark, share and interact with the leading medical design engineering magazine today.

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.
DeviceTalks

DeviceTalks is a conversation among medical technology leaders. It's events, podcasts, webinars and one-on-one exchanges of ideas & insights.

DeviceTalks

New MedTech Resource

Medical Tubing

Enewsletter Subscriptions

Enewsletter Subscriptions

MassDevice

Mass Device

The Medical Device Business Journal. MassDevice is the leading medical device news business journal telling the stories of the devices that save lives.

Visit Website
MDO ad
Medical Design and Outsourcing
  • MassDevice
  • DeviceTalks
  • MedTech 100 Index
  • Medical Tubing + Extrusion
  • Drug Delivery Business News
  • Drug Discovery & Development
  • Pharmaceutical Processing World
  • R&D World
  • About Us/Contact
  • Advertise With Us
  • Subscribe to Print Magazine
  • Subscribe to E-newsletter
  • Attend our Monthly Webinars
  • Listen to our Weekly Podcasts
  • Join our DeviceTalks Tuesdays Discussion

Copyright © 2022 WTWH Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Site Map | Privacy Policy | RSS

Search Medical Design & Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • Med Tech Resources
    • DeviceTalks Tuesdays
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • The Big 100
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Video
  • 2022 Leadership in MedTech
    • 2022 Leadership Voting!
    • 2021 Winners
    • 2020 Winners
  • Women in Medtech