Las Vegas jury orders drug companies to pay $500M in punitive damages in hepatitis C case

Jury awards $500M punitive damages in hep C case

LAS VEGAS — A jury in Las Vegas ordered two drug companies to pay a combined $500 million in punitive damages in the first of hundreds of civil cases stemming from a hepatitis C outbreak two years ago.

The Clark County District Court jury on Friday ordered Teva Parenteral Medicines to pay $356 million to Henry Chanin and his wife, Lorraine. Baxter Healthcare Services was ordered to pay the couple $144 million.

The punitive damages come on top of more than $5 million already awarded to the couple by the same jury. It found the companies responsible for breach of implied warranty and failure to warn. The jury awarded Henry Chanin $3.25 million and his wife $1.85 million from the companies.

Health officials have blamed reusing vials of the anesthetic propofol for infecting patients with the incurable liver disease.

The drug manufacturer and distributor provided the propofol used by endoscopy clinics at the heart of the hepatitis C outbreak. At least nine — and possibly as many as 114 — patients were infected with the disease.

The Southern Nevada Health District advised about 50,000 patients who received endoscopy procedures at the clinics to get tested. The 2008 notification prompted widespread fear of infection and led to the lawsuits.

The Chanins’ case was the first to reach trial.

Henry Chanin, the 62-year-old headmaster of a private school run by the wife of Las Vegas’ mayor, contracted hepatitis C in 2006 during a routine procedure at Desert Shadow Endoscopy Center, the jury was told.

His lawyer said the vials provided by the companies were larger than necessary.

Drug company lawyers have maintained that the vials were marked with instructions and warnings, and medical professionals decided what sizes were appropriate.