Pregnant women and children with HIV are denied care in Las Vegas

Pregnant women and children with HIV are denied care in Las Vegas
UNLV clinic’s abrupt closure leaves desperate patients without options

Las Vegas, Nevada: The University of Nevada Las Vegas had abruptly shattered the only pediatric and maternal H.I.V. program in the region, leading to a growing public health crisis. Disruptions and delays in the crucial treatment for the virus have devastated 62 pediatric patients who represent the most vulnerable layers of the population and require a daunting complexity of medical care. Approximately 30 pregnant women are now in danger of passing their HIV infection to their newborn babies.

The clinic was closed by Shawn Gerstenberger, the Dean of UNLV’s School of Community Health Sciences shortly after its Director, the award-winning physician of Nigerian descent, had complained to UNLV of the Dean’s racist comments that "All Nigerians are criminals". Mr. Gerstenberger, who has previously praised the clinic’s high level of patient care, has refused to specify the reasons for its closure. However, the day after the outraged patients have flooded the local executive and political offices with phone calls, he has initiated the internal investigation of the clinic.

A lawsuit by a 4-year old HIV-positive girl is currently pending in the federal court seeking a re-opening of the clinic. The emergency petition states that the patient - who has been treated in the clinic since birth and other patients "have no place to go and have no access to the expertise necessary to manage their disease. As such, they cannot obtain refills on their HIV specific medications, as their primary care physicians are not competent nor comfortable with prescribing this complex medical regimen." Over five weeks after the clinic’s abrupt closure, the UNLV is failing to triage the patients whose life-saving care has lapsed.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/education/unlv-clinics-closure-leaves-patients-scrambling-for-options/

For more information, please contact:

SavetheChildrenVegas@gmail.com
(702) 751-9559