Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
Stumble
Published Friday, Aug. 19, 2011 | 12:10 p.m.
Updated Friday, Aug. 19, 2011 | 1:39 p.m.
Story Archives
Sun Coverage
A lawyer for one of two drug companies being sued over a hepatitis C outbreak in Las Vegas said Friday that clinics - not drug manufacturers or distributors - were responsible for the spread of the disease either by misusing an anesthetic or not cleaning medical equipment.
Attorney Mark Tully for Teva Parenteral Medicines Inc. told a jury during his opening statement in Las Vegas that the propofol shipped to the clinics where the disease was found was manufactured and delivered without any defects.
"Whatever happened at the clinic happened solely at the clinic," Tully said.
The clinics either misused vials of the drug on multiple patients with dirty needles and syringes or didn't properly clean other equipment for colonoscopies and other procedures, he said.
On Thursday, the lawyer for a couple suing Teva and Baxter Heathcare Corp. said in his opening statement that the companies sold larger vials of the drug even though executives knew they were less safe and used improperly by some medical professionals.
Tully countered on Friday by saying that the vials are clearly marked for use on one patient each, and that it sold the larger vials because that's what the market dictated. A smaller vial didn't sell as well, and wasn't any more safe than larger vials if nurses used them improperly, Tully said.
Hospitals and clinics "make the decisions about what sizes, what types - they make the decisions about how to use them," Tully said.
Teva and Baxter hope to convince a jury that the packaging of their product didn't contribute to one of the largest public health notifications in history - when officials in southern Nevada told more than 50,000 patients treated at two centers to get tested for HIV and hepatitis C in 2008.
The trial is one of hundreds expected against the companies. In another trial last year, a jury awarded a man and his wife more than $500 million combined in punitive damages from the two companies. Baxter and Teva are appealing the decision.
The trial that started Thursday is expected to last roughly two months.
Dr. Dipak Desai, who ran the colonoscopy clinics, faces 28 state felony charges stemming from allegations that needles and vials were improperly used during endoscopy procedures, as well as federal conspiracy and health care fraud charges. Desai surrendered his medical licenses last year and is currently being evaluated for mental competency after suffering several strokes.
I can't even fathom how someone can do this.
The larger vials are safe if they are used safely. If you try to cheat people and cut costs then anything can be less safe.
They are going after deep pockets. The Doctor is the guilty party here but he does not have enough money left for these people.
Welcome to America, Land of the Lawsuit Lottery.
Deep pockets are undoubtedly a factor. However, the company seems to acknowledge that they made a business decision to only sell the larger vials. If so, and if the smaller, more cost-effective vials were not available, clinics would have been paying for more medicine than they were actually using -- they would have to throw away the unused portion in the larger vials.
That could be seen as contributory, although not as bad as what the clinic did in reusing items that were not meant to be reused.
I always thought the 100 mil vials were hospital settings only (surgeries), the 50 mil vials were for clinical short acting dose. I can see greed on both sides of the fence with this. The pharmaceutical company should have refused to sell the 100 mil vials as for ethical reasons. And the clinic saw the 100 mil vial as a way to cut costs, but they failed on that, I actually blame the staff as much as the owner. Had they read the blurb on looked at the bottle it states " for one use only"
Exactly..its the clinics fault!! They were being "cheap" and destroyed innocent lives while "saving" $$$ what a few pennies??? Disgraceful!
If the drug companies are at fault and liable for the damages seen in this case, wouldn't you expect to see multiple outbreaks of blood-borne illnesses across the country in clinics that had access to both sizes of the anesthetic? No. Instead, what we have is a clinic that was not following sterile procedures in an attempt to save a buck and a jury seeing that the damages caused by by this clinic far outreached its ability to compensate its victims. So the jury went after the deepest pockets, even though the deepest pockets had nothing to do with the case.
In the end, we are all, as the healthcare-consuming public, going to bear the costs for this verdict because the companies will have to raise their prices on the anesthetic to cover the costs of runaway juries. Use your sense of logic and justice when viewing the facts of this case, not your sense of outrage at the scale of the damages.
The attorneys for the drug manufactures have it exactly right. Its not the vials, the size or drug, its the users. Thats like say, if you take a gallon of milk and the person drinking it put it in a glass that is comtaminated with E coli, is it the milk or the person who is using a dirty glass. It makes no difference what size the milk came in, its the dirty glass the person is using.
Bloodsuckers. We all pay 30% more for everything because of them and those who have cronic victimitis.
Reberg8tor has the most valid argument. This case should be dismissed and the Plaintif's lawyer should be disbarred. I have read that there is a serious shortage of propofol and other anaesthetics in the hospitals across the Nation causing irrevocable harm to the public, after the jury handed an outrageous verdict of $500 million! for this couple.