Date:     April, 10, 2016

When:  12:00PM

Where:  Outside of Yorkville Endoscopy, 201 East 93rd Street, btwn 2nd/3rd Ave, New York, NY 10128

What:   New York State Assemblyman David Weprin,  Citizens for Safe Endoscopy and Bill Drake of the Esophageal Cancer Awareness  Association to introduce the “Upper  Endoscopy Reform Act”

The Issue

When a patient is suspected of having acid reflux disease, it is common practice for the doctor to perform an upper endoscopy. During this procedure, the doctor will pass a thin instrument called an endoscope through the esophagus. The current preferred endoscopic method used by doctors involves sedating the patient and passing the endoscope through the mouth. What most people don’t know is that this procedure places the patient in severe and unnecessary danger. The channels within endoscopic instruments subject patients to cross-contamination risks that needlessly put patients in jeopardy of contracting deadly bacteria and viruses.  Moreover the anesthesia used to sedate patients causes heart attacks, strokes, and respiratory arrest for about 50,000 Americans every year.

What the public is not aware of is that dangers posed by sedation can be easily avoided through an alternative procedure called TNE (TransNasal Esophagoscopy). This procedure is proven to provide the same, if not better results than the more common method involving sedation. Moreover, endoscopies can be performed safely without the risk of cross contamination. Single use, disposable, endosheath are available on the market to ensure endoscopic instruments never touch a patient. As a result, the risk transmission of bacteria from one person to another is eliminated.

The Solution

The Upper Endoscopy Reform Act mandates a comprehensive Bill of Rights to educate patients of their choice to undergo a sedated endoscopy, or TNE, and the relative risks involved. Stop endangering lives with loose disinfection standards and ensure endoscopic instruments are sterilized, or that endosheaths are utilized.

TNE does not involve any anesthesia, and so, the dangers, such as those that killed the late Joan Rivers, are not present. Even more, patients don’t have to modify their schedules to set time aside for the recovery time because there is none. Lastly, patients maintain a piece of mind knowing they will not be exposed to life-threatening bacteria or viruses.

Join Citizens for Safe Endoscopy, New York State Assemblyman David Weprin, and Bill Drake of the Esophageal Cancer Awareness Association in the introduction of the historic “Upper Endoscopy Reform Act,” to ensure all upper endoscopic procedures are safe for every patient.

CONTACT: Travis Grodin tgrodin@gothamgr.com  516-880-8170)