The Nevada State Medical Board has reinstated the medical license, with stipulations, for Michael Kaplan, MD, an urologist from Henderson, who had his license suspended for reusing single-use endocavity needle guides during biopsy procedures, according to the stipulation and order from the medical board and a report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
As a stipulation for Dr. Kaplan once again performing invasive procedures in an office setting (as opposed to an ambulatory surgery center or hospital), the board is requiring a voluntary "third-party" monitor who will check for proper infection control procedures including the use of disposable, single-use-only medical devices and the appropriate cleaning and sterilization of reusable medical devices. The voluntary monitoring will remain in place for 90 days.
Dr. Kaplan is accused of reusing the devices, over a three-month period, an average of 3-5 times and only replacing them when they had become "too bloody," according to the summary suspension filed by the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners.
He previously defended his actions in a paid advertisement which appear in the Las Vegas Review-Journal in which he blamed an unnamed equipment vendor for suggesting he could reuse the devices.
In addition to the monitoring, Dr. Kaplan must submit to random site inspections by the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners, Nevada State Board of Health and other agencies to ensure appropriate infection control procedures are followed and documented.
View the Nevada State Medical Board stipulation and order for Dr. Michael Kaplan (pdf).
Read the Las Vegas Review-Journal report about the reinstated license of Dr. Kaplan.