LUFKIN, Texas—The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention refused to say how many DaVita dialysis patients might have exposed to bleach last year, according to the Lufkin Daily News.
In July 2008, the Lufkin newspaper sent a public information request to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Lufkin Daily News requested information about the number of patients tested for bleach and the number of positive test results. The CDC, which is part of HHS, denied the request in an April 2 letter to the newspaper.
“Because this matter continues to be under investigation, documents pertaining to the investigation were withheld under authority of the Freedom of Information Act," the letter said.
Texas state and federal health officials were notified in late April 2008 about a cluster of four patient deaths at the Lufkin clinic, which was closed as a result. DaVita said that it had been looking into complications at the unit earlier that month. An investigation found that 19 patients died at the clinic in a five-month period that ended in April.
A break in explaining the cluster of deaths came when two patients in the Lufkin clinic told senior staff that they saw Kimberly Saenz, 35, injecting bleach into bloodlines. The affected patients were sent to the hospital and Saenz was sent home and fired. As a result, the clinic’s 130 patients were bused to other dialysis clinics for care.
On April 1, Saenz turned herself into the Angelina County jail after a grand jury indicted her with capital murder and aggravated assault. She is being held without bond.
Saenz, a former licensed vocational nurse at the Lufkin, Texas, DaVita clinic, could face the death penalty if convicted.
