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Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Dr. Dipak Desai, the majority owner of the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada, leaves a hearing at Las Vegas City Hall on March 3, 2008.
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Sun Topics
Dr. Dipak Desai has settled with the first of thousands of former patients suing over last year’s hepatitis outbreak springing from his clinics.
Lawyers for Desai filed court papers this week disclosing they have reached a deal with Michael Washington, who alleges he was infected with the potentially deadly hepatitis C virus during a colonoscopy at Desai’s Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada in 2007.
Washington’s suit, the first to go before a jury, is to be tried before District Judge David Wall on Oct. 19. But Washington will square off with one less defendant — Desai — if Wall, at a hearing Thursday, finds that both sides reached the settlement in good faith.
Several defendants would remain in Washington’s suit, including the nurses involved in his colonoscopy, the Endoscopy Center, and the pharmaceutical companies that manufactured and distributed Propofol, the anesthetic used in the procedure. Washington, a 69-year-old retired Air Force veteran, contends that sloppy handling of vials and syringes containing Propofol led to his infection.
In their court papers, Desai’s lawyers did not reveal the amount of the settlement, saying both sides agreed it would be confidential and disclosed only to the judge.
But there is some idea of the amount because there is a cap of $350,000 under state law on what Washington could receive for noneconomic damages. Washington’s wife, Josephine, is also a plaintiff in the suit, and the settlement likely included some noneconomic damages to her, as well.
Nevada Mutual Insurance, the company that provided Desai with malpractice insurance, is expected to pay the settlement.
Brett Schoel, one of the Sacramento lawyers who filed the court papers on Desai’s behalf, declined to comment Friday. So did Washington’s attorney, Ed Bernstein, who also would not allow Washington to be interviewed.
But in their court papers, Desai’s lawyers said the agreement, the result of extensive “arms-length” negotiations, “represents a fair compromise of the risks of both sides of proceeding to trial in this case.”
Desai’s risks were considerable because the Southern Nevada Health District was able to determine through genetic testing that Washington was infected with the hepatitis C virus during his procedure at the Endoscopy Center on July 25, 2007.
And records show that Desai is the one who performed the colonoscopy on Washington. As the owner of the center, Desai is also a defendant in cases where he didn’t perform the procedures and may face a lesser liability.
Professor Robert Correales, a torts expert at UNLV’s Boyd Law School, said Desai’s agreement in the Washington case is significant because it could prompt other settlements.
“I think it demonstrates that there may be a willingness to settle other cases with similar facts,” he said.
The key to striking deals in those cases will be the ability of the plaintiffs to establish the cause of their infections at the center, Correales said.
Aside from Washington, the Health District has linked only a small number of hepatitis C infections to Desai’s clinic through genetic testing. The district determined that a half-dozen patients contracted the disease on Sept. 21, 2007. Plaintiffs’ lawyers this week, however, revealed in court documents that they have discovered independent of the Health District a new cluster of infections at the center on March 15, 2007, and they’re working to uncover more clusters.
In all, about 300 former patients are alleging in lawsuits that they were infected. More than 4,000 noninfected former patients are suing over the stress of having to get tested for hepatitis C and other viruses.
Will Kemp, a lead plaintiffs’ lawyer in the endoscopy litigation, said he also thinks the Desai agreement will lead to other settlements.
But he added he doesn’t expect to see a rush to reach agreements until a jury holds one of the wealthy pharmaceutical companies liable for the infections. The damage caps in Nevada apply only to the health care providers, not the pharmaceutical manufacturers.
In their court papers, Desai’s lawyers contended that the evidence uncovered by the plaintiffs is stronger against the center’s employees than against Desai.
But the lawyers also said Desai risked a “sympathy verdict” in taking the case to trial and that there was a possibility that a jury would find him liable for what happened to Washington because of “the publicity of the case rather than its merits.”
Jeff German is the Sun’s senior investigative reporter.
lookie here lookie here...
it's the lawyers who are actually getting to the hepatitis criminals...
and the stupid pathetic republican liars keep crying for tort reform...
sad...
truly sad...
make no mistake boys and girls...
the lawyers are the only ones who have done anything...
the medical board is a failure...
the medical board is a complete and total failure...
louis ling is a failure...
louis ling is a complete and total failure...
tony clark was a failure...
tony clark was a complete and total failure...
district attorney david roger is a failure...
district attorney david roger is a complete and total failure...
attorney general catherine cortez masto is a failure...
attorney general catherine cortez masto is a complete and total failure...
monkey boy gibbons is a failure...
monkey boy gibbons is a compete and total failure...
the citizens of nevada are not safe...
our public officials are failures...
complete and total failures!!!
What a waste of bird droppings.
I heard birdie is going to be writing childrens books.
lawyers are selling out their desparate clients. the lawyers are the ones really getting the payday. Arms length? Where do you think the judges get their campaign contributions from?
Michael Washington is lucky to have been the very first to settle. If there are indeed thousands of others infected their payout is not likely to be much.
To me, it is profoundly disgusting that a wealthy man like Dr. Desai could intentionally adopt a policy at his medical business which he knew would cause transfers of infection from one patient to another; have insurance to protect him from responsibility for his actions; and when his policies give someone a deadly disease which will kill them, the wealthy man is protected from paying all but a nominal sum for his intentionally wrongful acts by a law which the buffoons in our Legislature could have fixed, but have not. The buffoon legislator's private excuse: We never expect a doctor to intentionally kill anyone.
From Dr. Death, the poor victim will end up with something like $175,000 as the damages he receives for the slow, painful death Dr. Desai dished out for the sake of putting a few more dollars in his own pocket.
Around the country, people with AIDS who intentionally spread it through their reckless conduct are arrested and criminally prosecuted. Here in Nevada, Dr. Desai's office policies (fast and dirty colonoscopies) have already killed one man, the pharmacist whose cancer was missed by Dr. C, doing a hasty colonoscopy pursuant to the business policies of Dr. Desai and his partners, including Dr. C. We're not seeing any criminal prosecution of Dr. C, despite the fact that he intentionally killed a patient by following the Desai clinics' business policy of not complying with the professional standard for a slow and careful inspection of each patient's colon using an endoscope. Obviously, our D.A. is substituting his own judgement for that of a jury on whether Dr. C and Dr. Desai are guilty of negligent homicide as a result of their policies and their actions.
When are we going to see a criminal prosecution of Dr. Desai for intentionally spreading hepatitis? Perhaps the District Attorney is waiting for one of the Desai clinic's patients who caught hepatitis to actually die. By then, I expect Dr. Desai will be back in India with the bulk of his own money.
Birdiedreamin:
"Birdiedreamin By
7/20/09 6:04
david roger ???is
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catherine cortez masto ???is
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???
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docotors ???"
You're an ingnoranus even in Russia..previat... and davidwayne, the story says 300 'claim' to have gotten the virus, not thousands...this hysteria from this 'scare' is ridiculous... looking at CDC statistics, this isn't even a significant 'event' and using the word 'cluster' to describe a new case is beyond hyperbole...folks you got your free test, you don't have hepatitis, you have no damages, go home, do not pass go, do not collect ANY money... those who did contract any disease probably have underlying immunodeficiency disorders or other issues...this same procedure and process has been used in the VA for years, and is a more significant issue in Alabama where it continued until this year! And by the way, Hep C can spontaneously cure itself...in other words you can get it and it just goes away... poof! Then where are your damages??? And how about the person who really caused this situation, that would be the person who had the Hep C in the first place...did he/she disclose this? Was there intent to conceal this? Now there's the key word...INTENT...it must exist if there is to be criminal prosecution...
Wow, I can't believe I'm even responding to the inanity of Birdiedreamin', but there's my rant...
"...this same procedure and process has been used in the VA for years, and is a more significant issue in Alabama where it continued until this year! And by the way, Hep C can spontaneously cure itself..."
elgato, you are a moron if you really believe this. Many VA hospitals havve infected patients with Hepatitis C. this year there have been cases in VA. I do not know if they use same procedure to clean the equipment but they have many patients infected. This is a criminal case and should be pursued by federal govt but they would not because of cases in VA. They would have to prosecute themselves.
around the world...please focus on the issue and not the person, as is usual around here...name calling is immature, unsophisticated and childish...
These aren't my opinions they are facts...unlike a lot of the drivel posted here...look them up...I did, but I'm not going to do your work for you...you want to read the first sentence of a story and sum it up to fit your 'fact pattern', then fine...
Do some research...learn something...take emotion and FEAR out of this...you are being exploited by capitulating to this scare tactic, to sell papers, get people to watch the news...
Go to the CDC website (that's the only hint I'm giving) to educate yourself before you spout...
The main element to a crime is intent...look that up too while you're at it...
Give me facts, not opinion...especially an uneducated and uninformed one...that's a general comment to all these posters...
fremmasmimd sounds to me as if you know a lot about bird droppings and nothing about the truth.
anthemccresident You obviuosly do not know anything about the civil justice system either. These attorneys took these cases on a contingency(to idiots it means no fees or charges are paid unles there is a settlement). At one time it appeared as if no one would pay for these wrongs done to innocent victims, thanks to Ling and Clark. Do some homework before you make a fool of yourself.
In closing when something bad happens to you or a loved on you will cry like a baby for the best attorney that will take your case.
You seem to forget the money paid by lobbyist to protect doctors and medical mfgrs to law makers and public officials. That is the real payola.
elato hep c will never cure itself. get real. The VA or any other medical facility would ever do these procedures like they were done in Las Vegas.
Gee I wonder why Bush and Cheney go to government facilities like Bethesda and Walter Reed? I thought government is bad. They should go to private sector facilities
elgato, your working for Dr. Desai arn't you? You are Dr. Desai right?
Hepatitis C is a death sentence for people contracting it. There is no cure except for few instances. Maybe a cure only after one year of chemo treatment you wouldn't wish on your enemy.
The doctor knew this and still used dirty needles. This doctor needs to be put in jail and stripped of anything he owns. He is a criminal.
Only reason why the govt does not prosceute is because of VA cases.
VA did the same thing but for different reasons. It was not to suck out money but because They were lazy people and did not want to clean the equipment.
You do the fact finding as I already know everyting.
aroundtheworld365:
Good for you! You win...you don't spell well, and your syntax and grammar need some serious work, but you're (the contraction meaning you are) have gotten to the core with your statement:
"Only reason why the govt does not prosceute is because of VA cases."
Dr. Desai's lawyers will argue that it was acceptable within the medical community...
Again, who was the idiot who had Hep C and didn't disclose it in the first place? Where is that negligence?
And, yes, again, it can spontaneously cure itself, just like lupus and other autoimmune disorders...you don't want to believe it because you're (the contraction meaning you are, not the possessive pronoun 'your') wallowing in your pessimism...do some research...go to the websites I suggested...even use Wikipedia...don't rely on your limited knowledge and that of these 'reporters' who also don't do any research beyond what they're told (uh-oh, another contraction)...
This will go nowhere and the attorneys will be ultimately disappointed with their settlements...they don't want to go to trial...it will eat away at their profit margins and take their time away from other cases, like mesotheleomia or, of course, the foreclosure crisis...get a clue folks...
I agree with David's comments above. This is why the Trustee's concerns in the Bankruptcy were right on, Desai settles and all the other patients who have claims out there get little or nothing. How unfair is that? They should treat all of them the same and all of them get something instead of the first one to go to trial. Don't those attorneys have conflicts in settling cases for one client when they represent others? That is where investigative journalism should look. Just chalk one up for the "system".
wlgato, yuor mind is everywhere. your brain is helter skelter.
you said ".....Again, who was the idiot who had Hep C and didn't disclose it in the first place? Where is that negligence?"
What does this have anything to do with the crime Dr. Desai committed? DO NOT reuse any used needles in medical clinic. Period.
So if a patron contracts Hepatitis C in a restaurant because the restaruant didn't wash their knife-- your gonna blame on patrons?
you worte .... "And, yes, again, it can spontaneously cure itself, just like lupus and other autoimmune disorders...you don't want to believe it because you're (the contraction meaning you are, not the possessive pronoun 'your') wallowing in your pessimism..."
You are out of your mind. Maybe you can figure out wher the misspelings are and leve real thinking to others.
aroundtheworld:
You got off track again by focusing on the person, rather than the issue.
You may perceive my '...brain is helter skelter...', and I actually thank you for the compliment. I am open-minded in considering ALL possibilities, rather than being parochial and closed-minded in an opinion not based upon anything factual. Rather like the saying that a mind and a parachute have one thing in common: they only work when they're open...
You almost had the answer...and I'll give you another hint...if Dr. Desai can prove (however despicable or wrong you think it might be now, after the fact, that his practice did things in keeping with the common processes and procedures of others within the medical community, he will prevail...he will (and his lawyers also) find that this was done at many clinics throughout the country and even at the beloved VA hospitals...despicable, yes, criminal, no...and, yes, I would blame the patron who ate at the restaurant, if said restaurant washed that knife in accordance with the commonly-used health regulations used by other restaurants at the time...
BTW, you EVEN misspelled misspell...I'm done here...chewed the flavor out of this gum again...you wrestle with a pig, no one wins and you both get dirty...keep playing the victim and demanding your '...payouts...' from the system rather than earning your own money...no one deserves a 'payout' because they were scared of getting a disease...
BTW, the SUN has been using that as the caption for their series (scroll up and look)related to the incidents, and if we're all done being scared a year or two later now, let's move on and focus on more important things...
this guy who settled was smart...he got his $100,000 tax-free payout for nuisance value, plus continuing meds for the rest of his life and he's done with this...others should follow 'suit'...
Dr. Dipak Desai it's scum like you that makes it so difficult to get nation wide tort reform.
What you and your staff did was despicable.
From someone with actual family member experience with Hepatitis C:
(I also had a procedure done at the clinic and tested negative.)
1. elgato is correct that HCV patients can have a spontaneous remission
of the disease. Usually these are children or teenagers who have
been exposed to the virus and have strong immune systems.
Spontaneous remission occurs in less than 1% of HCV patients,
however.
2. Hep C is not necessarily a death sentence, and in any event, a 69
year old patient like Mr. Washington will probably pass away from
natural causes before HCV causes health problems for him.
The virus normally takes 20-30 years to progress to fibrosis
or cirrhosis and interferon treatment, however unpleasant, can
delay progression as well.
3. The patient who spread his infection to the other
patients at the clinic was known to have HCV by the doctors at the clinic, which
makes their unsafe procedures even more ethically egregious.
4. Part of the case against Dr. Desai's clinic is that in fact, his protocols
for using vials and syringes was in violation of accepted medical standards
in this country. He was using third world procedures and charging
first world fees.
Where is Harry Reid in this worse outbreak of Dr spreading a killer virus on the citzens of Southern Nevada. What kind of guy is this man. All he wants is to put Rory Reid in the old boy system. You think Gibbon and Reid are keeping this as quite as possible? Vote and vote them out.