Health officials are encouraging patients of a Michigan doctor to consider HIV and hepatitis testing after state investigators charged that the physician reused rectal devices at his Kalamazoo-area clinics.

The state’s Department of Health and Human Services yesterday issued the testing guidance for patients of Dr. Roger Beyer, who owns Urological Solutions of Michigan and Women’s Health Care Specialists.

In a May 21 administrative complaint, the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs alleged that Beyer’s practices reused a “rectal pressure sensor” (seen above) despite the fact that the device is only approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for single-patient use.  

The disciplinary complaint against Beyer (pictured at right) states that three nurse practitioners told investigators that the rectal sensors were used on multiple patients.

One nurse estimated that “a sensor was used over 100 times before being replaced.” A second nurse said that the device “was cleaned occasionally and re-used on multiple patients” and that she was trained to place the device in a “non-latex glove before inserting it into the patient.”

The device’s manufacturer, Prometheus Group, includes a “warning in the packaging alerting practitioners that this device is meant for single-patient use,” the complaint notes.

The complaint charges Beyer with negligence, failing to conform to “minimal standards of acceptable, prevailing practice for the health professions,” and adulterating a medical device.

According to Beyer’s web site, he is “board certified in OB/GYN and Uro-Gynecology” and is “internationally recognized as an expert in the pelvic floor and is a highly regarded pelvic floor surgeon.”