TYLER - A law firm in Oklahoma City that represents victims of medical malpractice and negligence, confirmed to KETK-TV Tuesday that they have been contacted to represent "between 50 and 60" DaVita Lufkin Dialysis patients, or family members of patients.

A. D. Woska & Associates, P.C., attorney Mark D. Melton said a class-action lawsuit against DaVita could be in the future.

Also Tuesday, federal health officials released a report that stated nineteen patient deaths occurred at DaVita Lufkin Dialysis in a five-month period ending in April before its temporary closure.

Records also show the facility had a mortality rate of about
seven percent higher in 2007 than the state average.

The center reopened July 2nd after the company said it fixed
staffing and operations problems.

Government officials conducted the report in May following a
spike in patient deaths and health complications at the facility,
which remains under investigation by Lufkin police.

More on the story

On April 28, DaVita Lufkin closed after a spike in deaths and life-threatening injuries occurred at the facility during the month of April.

DaVita spokesman Michael Chee said the company could not find anything to explain the cause of deaths until April 28. On that day, two patients said they witnessed a nurse allegedly injecting two other patients with bleach, and alerted senior staff at the facility.

Both patients survived.

Chee said the unit had been on a heightened state of awareness for several weeks leading up to the incident. When the incident was brought to staff attention, the patients allegedly injected were sent to a local hospital and the nurse, Kimberly Clark Saenz, 34, was sent home, Chee said. The company fired her the next day.

Then, in late May, Saenz was arrested and charged with injecting bleach into the veins of two patients. Weeks later, the Texas Department of Health Service notified at least eight more patients that bleach was found in their bloodstream.

Saenz has not been charged in the recent events involving eight more patients. However, DaVita stands by their belief that she is involved, according to spokesman Michael Chee:

"We believe that this communication from this Texas Department of State Health furthers enforces our suspicions of Ms. Saenz," Chee. "She is the suspect that has been criminally charged and may have been involved in more of these unethical and unwarranted events."

Tubing used to administer dialysis to the four patients who died was kept and frozen by staff as evidence, Chee said. Blood drawn from patients who exhibited complications, beginning in mid-April, was tested and preserved also, the spokesman said. All of that evidence was turned over to police detectives when the facility contacted them.

People in the Lufkin community said it was a shock to hear about Saenz's arrest. How could it be that their neighbor, was possibly behind it all? Even more boggling, how did she become a nurse at the facility in the first place?

Who Is Kimberly Clark Saenz?

Saenz worked at DaVita Lufkin for eight months and according to documents obtained exclusively by KETK-TV from the Texas Board of Nursing, she was initially licensed in Texas as a Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) back in November 2004.

But in May 2008, the Texas Board of Nursing held an emergency hearing and suspended Saenz's nursing license.

The allegations that led to that suspension are disturbing:

Aug. 2005: It's alleged that while Ms. Saenz was employed by Woodland Height Medical Center in Lufkin she took the narcotic pain reliever Demerol from the patients and the hospital.

April 2008: It's also alleged that Ms. Saenz filled syringes with bleach and administered the solution to patients undergoing dialysis.

Early May 2008: Ms. Saenz was arrested by Lufkin Police for public intoxication.

The Texas Board of Nursing found the charges against Saenz to be "substantiated" and suspended Saenz's licenses until Nov. 2009.

Doors Open

DaVita Lufkin Dialysis Center reopened its doors Wednesday, July 2, for the first time in two months, treating nine patients as it works with state health officials in a phased reopening.

DaVita has reopened with state approval after hiring physician, nurse and technical monitors to oversee its staff.

The nurse's reduced-bond was set at $100,000 on both counts with a bond condition stating she is not allowed to work in a medical environment, care for patients or dispense medication upon making bail, said Angelina County Justice of the Peace Judge Billy Ball.

Saenz's attorney, John Henry Tatum, has not returned numerous phone call attempts.

* The Lufkin Daily News provided portions of this report