Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Ex-doctor, 2 others face murder charge in hepatitis C case

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Dr. Dipak Desai appears in court for a competency hearing Friday, Jan. 27, 2012.

A former Las Vegas medical clinic physician-owner and two ex-employees are now facing second-degree murder charges in the death of a man who prosecutors say became infected with hepatitis C during an outpatient procedure in 2007.

A Clark County grand jury handed up an indictment Friday against Dipak Desai and former Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada nurse-anesthetists Ronald Lakeman and Keith Mathahs in the April 27 death of 77-year-old Rodolfo Meana.

They're due for arraignment Aug. 22.

The murder indictment is separate from the 28 felony charges that Desai, Lakeman and Mathahs already face stemming from the hepatitis C outbreak at Desai clinics. Each has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors say Desai pinched pennies so much at his clinics that patients were endangered and infected with incurable hepatitis C.

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