Judge denies change of venue for hepatitis C trials

By Jeff Pope

Tuesday, June 30, 2009 | 5:46 p.m.

Attorneys representing the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada and its clinics fear they won’t find an impartial jury in Clark County because of “sensational publicity” in the local media and from public officials.

They sought to move 22 malpractice lawsuits against the center to Carson City, where the media coverage was less intense and public knowledge of the clinics’ alleged criminal practices was less well known.

District Court Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez denied their request Tuesday, saying it was too soon to make such a determination. She said a trial judge would have to decide if an impartial jury could be found during the selection process.

In a motion asking for the change of venue, endoscopy center attorneys Drew Cass and David MacDonald wrote that more than 1,500 exhibits of media coverage related to the cases have been filed.

During today’s hearing, they also presented findings of a survey showing the public’s negative perception of the clinics was more widespread in Clark County than it was in Carson City.

The center’s owner, Dr. Depak Desai, was compared to Adolph Hitler, Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden on blogs and posted comments to local news stories, MacDonald said. Several referred to him as “Dr. Death.”

“It’s impossible for the defendants to receive an impartial trial because the jury pool is polluted,” MacDonald said.

The survey by a California sociologist the lawyers hired concluded that media reports had a “pervasive and embedded public bias” against Desai, the center and other defendants.

The survey also found that the majority of those who responded in Carson City believed the doctors behaved in a negligent manner and committed malpractice but the percentages were lower than in Clark County.

Attorneys Ed Bernstein and Patti Wise, who represent an elderly man who contracted hepatitis C, said traveling to Carson City to testify would be a health risk and financial burden for their client.

“He contracted his infection here in Clark County, he (deserves) to be heard in Clark County,” Wise said.

The first trial is scheduled to start Oct. 19 although Metro Police investigators have yet to conclude their criminal investigation and the Southern Nevada Health District has not issued its findings.

Attorneys have a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing how doctors and employees of the clinics used syringes on patients, Bernstein said.

“We have enough to prove to a jury the doctors were negligent and our client was damaged,” he said.