Drug Companies Found Liable For Man's Condition
Endoscopy Clinic-Hepatitis Trial results in $5.1 million award. Punitive Damages have been approved and will be disclosed soon.
The Las Vegas Review Journal reported the following.
LAS VEGAS -- A Clark County jury will debate punitive damages Thursday in the case of two drug companies found liable for a Las Vegas man contracting hepatitis C at a southern Nevada endoscopy clinic. The jurors on Wednesday ruled in favor of Henry Chanin, awarding him $3.2 million, and awarding his wife, Lorraine, $1.8 million. Chanin’s attorney had argued for an $8.5 million reward.
Chanin sued Teva Parenteral Medicines and Baxter Healthcare, accusing the companies of intentionally selling excessive vials of the drug propofol to the clinic.
His attorney argued the company's actions led clinic employees to inject him with five times the amount of propofol needed during his treatments, increasing his chances of exposure to hepatitis.
The jury found the companies liable on a count of failure to warn and a count of breach of implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose.
A total of 106 people were infected and thousands more were tested in the two years following the first reported case in December 2007, according to the Southern Nevada Health District.
