Law Med Blog

Judge Rules Charges Against NV Physician In Hepatitis C Case Stand

May 13, 2012 lawmed No comments

Clark County District Court Judge Valerie Adair rejected defense attorney Richard Wright’s argument that the 35-page indictment returned in June 2010 against former physician Dipak Desai was unconstitutionally vague and confusing on Thursday. Desai was a prominent Las Vegas physician and state medical board member who operated clinics where health officials say patients became infected with hepatitis C in 2007.

Prosecutors allege that Desai was trying to save money at his Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada and Desert Shadow Endoscopy Center and orchestrated a scheme that required staff to use the anesthetic propofol that remained in previously opened vials on multiple patients, and to reuse colonoscopy scopes and bite plates from patient to patient during outpatient procedures. Propofol is well-known to allow rapid growth of bacteria and viruses due to its high protein content.

Desai recently lost a 2 year battle to have himself declared incompetent to stand trial after … (Continued…)

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JetBlue Pilot Who Went Off The Rails Charged With Federal Crime: Medical Explanation?

March 31, 2012 lawmed No comments

Authorities have brought federal charges against JetBlue pilot, Captain Clayton Osbon, 49, subsequent to his apparent break with reality while piloting a flight from New York to Las Vegas.

Osborn has been formally charged with interfering with a flight crew. JetBlue Airways has also suspended Osbon, a 12-year employee with the airline. The federal criminal complaint t, which can be read below, charges Osbon with violating 49 U.S.C. Section 46504. The statute makes it a federal crime to assault, intimidate, or otherwise disrupt any flight crew member from performing their duties. If convicted, he can could face a fine up to $250,000, imprisonment for 20 years, or both. If found to have used a deadly weapon against the JetBlue crew, he could also get life in prison.

The complaint describes in detail the actions and utterances of Osborn during the flight, and the efforts by the flight crew and passengers … (Continued…)

Judge Rules Dr. Desai Competent For Trial In Nevada Hepatitis C Case

February 04, 2012 lawmed No comments

Citing a report from two psychiatrists and a psychologist at a state mental facility in Sparks who found that Dipak Desai is “competent and obviously exaggerating his symptoms” from strokes in September 2007 and July 2008 to avoid trial, Clark County District Court Judge Kathleen declared him competent to stand trial. Desai received six months of treatment at the facility last year after being court ordered there after state psychiatry experts declared him incompetent.

“The only impediment to competency asserted by the defendant is self-reported memory loss, secondary to two strokes, regarding facts relevant to his criminal charges,” the judge said. “Memory loss itself, even if true, is not a bar to prosecution of an otherwise competent defendant.” Desai’s lawyer, Richard Wright, contends that Desai is incapacitated by his strokes and other physical and mental ailments, to the point he is legally incompetent for trial.

The ruling cleared the way … (Continued…)

Desai Competancy Hearing Held Friday In Nevada Hepatitis C Case

January 29, 2012 lawmed No comments

The issue of the competency of Dr. Dipak Desai to stand trial was again before Clark County District Court Judge Kathleen Delaney on Friday. Back in February of 2011 two court appointed medical experts found Desai incompetent for trial and he was ordered into custody at a state mental health facility.

Dr. Steven Zuchowski, a state psychiatrist, treated Desai last year at the Lakes Crossing state mental facility in Sparks. The goal of treatment at the facility was to determine whether Desai could be made competent and to implement treatment as appropriate if he could.

Zuchowski testified Friday that despite suffering two strokes, the embattled former physician-owner of Las Vegas outpatient colonoscopy clinics at the center of a 2008 Hepatitis C outbreak, is mentally competent to stand trial on criminal charges. He told the court that Desai’s memory was affected by strokes in 2007 and 2008, but that he was … (Continued…)

$350K Settlement For Missing Organs After Autopsy

January 05, 2012 lawmed No comments

London-area aluminum trader Richard Boorman was 29 when he flew to Las Vegas for a bachelor party in 2005. He collapsed at a Vegas casino and was pronounced dead at Desert Springs Hospital. The Clark County coroner’s office autopsied and sent Boorman’s body to a mortuary for embalming so he could be sent home.

When the coroner cited acute cocaine and alcohol intoxication as the cause of Boorman’s death, his relatives were eager to have a second autopsy conducted in England. They were unable to get a complete one, however, because when Boorman’s body came home in July 2005, his heart, brain, liver, kidneys and lungs were not with him. They examined the body because a U.K. autopsy is standard procedure when a British citizen dies abroad.

So, the family sued the mortuary and Clark County in federal court. The family has now agreed to accept a $350,000 settlement after … (Continued…)

Juries Slap Propofol Companies With Over $280M Damages In Hep C Cases

October 15, 2011 lawmed 1 Comment

Two separate juries have levied a combined total of over $250 Million in punitive damages for 5 plaintiffs in two separate trials. The plaintiffs were suing after they contracted Hepatitis C from what their lawyers argued was contaminated propofol. The defendants were Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and Baxter International Inc., manufacturers and distributors of the drug.

Plaintiffs argued that the pharmaceutical companies were negligent when they packaged the propofol in large vials thereby encouraging multiple use of what is supposed to be a single use vial. Propofol is particularly prone to contamination and its formula promotes growth of viruses and bacteria.

Michael Washington and his wife, Josephine, alleged that Mr. Washington was diagnosed with Hepatitis C in 2007 after he received Propofol from a reused vial at a Las Vegas Endoscopy clinic run by Dr. Dipak Desai. They were awarded $90 Million in punitive damages Friday. The same jury awarded … (Continued…)

Righthaven Death Watch Enters Welcomed Stages

September 10, 2011 lawmed No comments

Legal extortionist and internet copyright troll Righthaven LLC, the company suing this blog and some 275 others in federal court, is gasping for air. Thursday Wired.com reported MediaNews Group, the parent company of the Denver Post, announced they have fired Righthaven in a rather introspective statement of regret that they had ever been associated with the scoundrels, calling it “a dumb idea”.

The new chief executive of MediaNews Group, publisher of the Denver Post and 50 other newspapers, said it was “a dumb idea” for the nation’s second-largest newspaper chain to sign up with copyright troll Righthaven.

The Denver-based publisher’s year-long copyright infringement litigation deal with Righthaven is terminating at month’s end, said John Paton, who replaced Dean Singleton to lead the company on Wednesday.

“The issues about copyright are real,” Paton told Wired.com in a telephone interview. “But the idea that you would hire someone on an – essentially

… (Continued…)

Law Med Blog Files Motion To Dismiss Federal Righthaven Lawsuit

September 03, 2011 lawmed 2 Comments

The deadline for Righthaven LLC to serve the Law Med Blog with the lawsuit they filed against us in Nevada Federal District Court back on May 5 came and went on September 2. A plaintiff has 120 days to serve a defendant with the complaint in a lawsuit filed in a federal court. Once they fail to do so, the defendant is permitted to motion the court to dismiss the action. Such dismissals are done ‘without prejudice” meaning the plaintiff can turn around and re-file the lawsuit if they wish.

This blog however, has filed a Motion to Dismiss With Prejudice for Failure to Serve the Complaint, Willful Deceit, and Failure to Comply with a Judicial Order on Friday. We are asking the court to dismiss the case WITH prejudice which would prevent a re-filing, and we do so by asking the court to sanction Righthaven for blatantly lying to … (Continued…)

Second Hepatitis C Trial Underway Against Propofol Maker

August 29, 2011 lawmed 1 Comment

Teva and Baxter Pharmaceuticals are in a Nevada court for the second time defending against allegations that improper packaging and labeling contributed to contamination of the anesthetic drug propofol with the Hepatitis C virus. Three Las Vegas residents say they contracted the virus when they were administered the drug at a Las Vegas colonoscopy center run by Dr. Dipak Desai. The vials of propofol are intended for single use only and in a novel legal approach lawyers for the plaintiffs are claiming that the size of the vials encouraged multiple use.

In the first similar case tried the jury awarded the plaintiff $500 million in punitive damages, an award later reversed by the US Supreme Court which found that generic drug makers like Teva and Baxter could not be held liable for using the same labeling which was approved for the original patent holding manufacturer by the FDA. Just … (Continued…)

Law Med Blog Files Affidavit Accusing Righthaven Of Lying To The Court

August 22, 2011 lawmed 2 Comments

We recently told our readers about professional legal extortionists at Righthaven LLC and their propensity for making false statements in court. On August 16th your beloved Law Med Blog refused to stand by while Righthaven LLC, the sham internet copyright trolling company that extorts money from unsuspecting bloggers with bogus claims of copyright infringement and threats of expensive lawsuits, blatantly lied to a federal judge in Nevada. Instead, this blog filed an affidavit as an interested party in federal court, exposing their behavior.

Righthaven filed a lawsuit against this blog in federal court back in May. Since then, Righthaven has lost every case brought before a judge due to their bogus claims of ownership in the copyrights at issue. Since Righthaven lacks the requisite exclusive ownership of the copyrights they sue over, they have no standing to bring the 275 lawsuits they have filed. Unfortunately they have intimidated dozens of … (Continued…)

Righthaven Ignores A Judges Order And Commits Fraud Upon The Court

August 12, 2011 lawmed 2 Comments

We have not spent a lot of time addressing the bogus federal lawsuit filed against this blog by Righthaven, LLC, a sham of a business created to troll the internet for alleged copyright infringements on websites, for its overlord, Stephens Media, owner of The Las Vegas Review Journal. Righthaven has suffered loss after staggering loss in those of the 276 lawsuits it has filed that have gone to court. Here at Law Med we await service of the lawsuit which was filed on May 6. Righthaven has until September 2 to effect service.

Righthaven however has represented to a federal judge that they cannot find the owners of the Law Med Blog after being ordered to send every defendant in every current case filed, a transcript of a hearing where the judge sanctions them for intentionally misrepresenting material facts to the court. Righthaven had until August 8 to comply with … (Continued…)

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