EDITORIAL: DaVita

EDITORIAL: DaVita
Company, state need to be more forthcoming with investigation info

The Lufkin Daily News

Saturday, May 03, 2008

Officials at the DaVita Lufkin Dialysis Center have their hands full right now, and quite understandably: The state health department and local police both appear to be investigating a sharp rise in patient deaths at the center over the past 30 days.

We say "appear to be" because, frankly, we have gotten little information from either DaVita or the Texas Department of State Health Services. We only know the basics of what is going on because of patients we've talked to and a statement from the Lufkin Police Department that a number of unexpected deaths and serious complications have occurred at the facility.

"It is not known at this time what may have caused the unexpected deaths and complications, but no evidence of criminal activity has been found," Lt. David Young stated in the police department's press release.

We think the center's patients, all of whom have had to seek dialysis treatment elsewhere — something that, even in a medical hub like Lufkin, isn't easy to find — deserve more information about what is going on.

DaVita isn't a small local company. It conducts kidney care for more than 100,000 patients in 43 states, at more than 1,300 outpatient facilities, according to the short statement the company released this past week.

"Right now, it would irresponsible to speculate beyond the facts we have and we will remain focused on our patients and the care they need," a DaVita spokeswoman stated in the press release the company issued Tuesday.

We don't want the company, or anyone else, to speculate beyond the facts. The facts themselves would suffice.

Based on the information we have received, from the police department, patients and family members of former patients, shutting down the center was the right thing to do — at least, until the cause of the rising amount of "unexpected deaths and complications" is determined. This is a good time to remind all that, as Lt. Young said, no evidence of criminal activity has been found at the center. And, for that matter, deaths routinely occur at medical facilities, and people who are undergoing dialysis — in which a machine is used to replicate the functions of the kidneys — often are in poor health. It may well be that the center has just had a run of bad luck, and that it will be up and running again in no time.

We hope that's the case, for the sake of its patients and its employees, but the point is, we just don't know. We encourage the center, and the state department that is investigating it, to be more open with information as the investigation progresses. Its patients, and the community, deserve to know what's happening — even if we don't yet know why it's happening.

http://www.lufkindailynews.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2008/5/04/eddy.html