The Oct. 8 story “Clark County epilepsy specialist fills niche for diagnosis, advanced care” reported on epilepsy treatment in Clark County and Dr. John Dempster’s arrival. It’s always good for patients to have more options for treatment of their conditions; however, the statement that “no one had specialized training in diagnosing and treating epilepsy” before his arrival is inaccurate. I have been practicing in Clark County since 1998, have had fellowship training in an epilepsy program, and am board certified in reading EEGs and evoked potentials.
Furthermore, I have an epileptologist working part-time in our group and several other neurologists who have neurophysiology subspecialty training at Southwest Medical Group Neurology Associates.
We also routinely do overnight monitoring for patients in our sleep lab who may have nocturnal (nighttime) seizures, although we don’t do long-term monitoring.
Unfortunately, we also see many patients who have been misdiagnosed and/or inappropriately treated and require reassessment of their condition and medications.