The DaVita Lufkin Dialysis Shutdown May Be The Result Of A Criminal Act

by Christa Lollis

After several weeks, the investigation into the Lufkin DaVita dialysis center had a major break through today. In a story that we first broke earlier today on ktre.com, it turns out that a criminal act may be to blame. The clinic announced that they believe a former employee was involved in a criminal act which may have caused the spike in deaths the Lufkin center has seen over the last several months.

That persons employment was terminated on April 29th, which was the day the clinic shut down. The Lufkin police department still has an ongoing investigation, but no arrests have been made and no warrants have been issued. "Davita has their opinions on things and of course if we're gonna file any criminal charges or we believe any criminal charges may be in order we have to be able to back that up with evidence and proof and sometimes it takes time to gather that and we're still in the process of examining every facet of that," Lt. David Young with the Lufkin police department explains.

The department's spokesperson also said they will be looking into the ex-employee but they have not ruled out other people being involved. The CDC has finished their investigation but the report will not be available for a few weeks.

The following is DaVita's comment on the investigation so far.

"We believe the events that led to our voluntarily closing the Lufkin Dialysis center were the result of a criminal act by an individual who has been terminated and is no longer working at the center.

The Lufkin Police Department has been professional and supportive during their investigation of the situation at Lufkin Dialysis center this past April.  We have acted in full cooperation with the Lufkin Police and honored their requests not to respond to inquiries even though it caused intense scrutiny and impact to our reputation.  We will continue to cooperate fully as their investigation continues.

We anticipate that state health officials will have recommendations that we will certainly act upon and we are currently working with them to determine our reopening plans."