April 17, 2008 12:07PM # Las Vegas’ Hepatitis‑C Crisis By [Michael F. Cannon](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-f-cannon) --- SHARE Las Vegans have been a little jumpy — and rightfully so — since [public health officials](http://www.southernnevadahealthdistrict.org/outbreaks/index.htm) revealed that a number of endoscopy clinics re-used syringes and medication vials, thereby infecting at least seven patients with [hepatitis‑C](http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hepatitis/c/fact.htm). Nevada’s physician-licensing board has proved [largely](http://www.lvrj.com/news/16591396.html) [inept](http://www.lvrj.com/news/16378036.html) in this matter, and a little [too](http://www.lvrj.com/news/16068002.html) [cozy](http://www.lvrj.com/news/17123406.html) with the profession it’s supposed to regulate. Nevertheless, some want to give the licensing board more power. Here’s an [interview](http://www.lasvegassun.com/videos/2008/apr/15/210/) I did on Las Vegas 1’s *Face to Face* with Jon Ralston. I argued that licensing laws don’t add much in the way of patient protection, and instead block innovations that would improve patient safety. (The first [interviewee](http://www.nevadacancerinstitute.org/about.aspx?id=102) provides lots of good information about the crisis, but if you want to skip to my interview, it begins about 12 minutes into the program.) ##### Related Tags [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care), [Regulation](https://www.cato.org/regulatory-studies), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).