Las Vegas Injury Blog | Nevada Injury Attorneys

In 2007, all of Nevada was rocked by the revelation that thousands of patients of the Endoscopy Center had been exposed to hepatitis C as a result of improper protocols.  Hepatitis C can be deadly for many who contract it, and since that report surfaced several agencies have been aggressively investigating the clinic, its owner, the employees of the clinic and other aspects of the operation.  All of this has led to the possibility of a criminal prosecution that would be unprecedented in terms of the statute that would be used to pursue convictions.

According to the Las Vegas Sun:

“Metro detectives late Tuesday handed the district attorney’s office the brunt of their criminal investigation into last year’s hepatitis C outbreak, for what is expected to be a groundbreaking prosecution.

Police are asking the district attorney to prosecute Dr. Dipak Desai and other medical personnel at his Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada on a rarely pursued charge of criminal neglect of patients, courthouse sources said.

Those facing potential charges with Desai include the anesthetists who injected patients with the sedative propofol during routine colonoscopies, the sources said.

The Endoscopy Center and other Desai clinics are suspected of exposing thousands of patients to the potentially deadly hepatitis C virus during medical procedures. About 5,000 former patients, including roughly 300 alleging that sloppy handling of propofol led to their infections, have filed suit in District Court.

Prosecutors expect to consider filing at least seven patient neglect charges against Desai — one for each of the seven patients health officials determined were infected with hepatitis C at the Endoscopy Center in 2007.”

How this issue plays out could go a long way towards pursuing remedies in several respects against those medical professionals who are guilty of doing harm to patients.  If you have suffered as a result of this issue or because of any other form of medical malpractice, you need to contact the Las Vegas personal injury lawyers at Jack Bernstein & Associates to schedule a free initial consultation.  The firm has a long history of successfully fighting for the rights of those wronged.