Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons names 4 to state's medical board

(AP) - Gov. Jim Gibbons on Tuesday appointed two new members were Tuesday to the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners while reappointing two others to the nine-member board.

Gibbons reappointed Dr. Benjamin Rodriguez, a Las Vegas plastic surgeon, and Suzanne "Renee" West, a Las Vegas casino executive.

Drs. Michael Fischer, a Carson City opthamologist, and Theodore Berndt, a Reno cardiologist, were named to replace Drs. Steven McBride and Sohail Anjum, whose terms expired this summer.

Gibbons sought the removal last year of McBride, Anjum and Dr. Javaid Anwar from the board because of their ties to Dr. Dipak Desai, owner of a Las Vegas clinic where flawed procedures led to a hepatitis outbreak.

Instead, they recused themselves from the medical board's inquiry into Desai's Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada.

Nine hepatitis C cases were definitively linked to two clinics operated by Desai, and health officials said another 105 cases were possibly related. Desai, who had a stroke last year, is facing a malpractice complaint pending before the board.

The terms of McBride and Anjum expired this summer. Anwar's term expires Aug. 31, 2011.

Also on Tuesday, the governor appointed Berlin Miller to the Colorado River Commission, replacing Jay Bingham, whose term expired in June.

Gibbons named George F. Ogilvie III, a current commission member, to succeed Bingham as chairman of the seven-member panel that oversees Nevada's stake in the Colorado River.