In a case before the Nevada Supreme Court, Teva Parenteral Medicines, Baxter Healthcare Corp. and Sicor Inc. are appealing a lower court's $505 million judgment against them for selling multi-use vials of propofol.
In the first day of oral arguments on Monday in Carson City, attorneys for the pharmaceutical firms, including celebrity Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz, argued that the jury in a May 2010 civil trial should have heard about unsafe practices at the Desert Shadow Endoscopy Center in Las Vegas that led to plaintiff Henry Chanin contracting hepatitis C in 2006.
Since Mr. Chanin contracted hepatitis C, the dangerous conditions of endoscopy centers owned by Depak Desai, MD, have been well documented. Dr. Desai and 2 anesthesia providers have been indicted on 28 felony counts, including racketeering, patient neglect and insurance fraud.
"The jury was asked to render a verdict without hearing the full story because of a series of legal errors by the trial court," said the attorneys for the pharmaceutical companies in documents filed March 2 in the state Supreme Court.
The future of several other cases related to reuse of propofol vials and Dr. Desai's facilities hinges on the outcome of the appeal, according to a report in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The state Supreme Court is not expected to make an immediate decision.
In the previous trial against the pharmaceutical companies, the plaintiff's attorneys argued that Mr. Chanin's infection could have been prevented if the companies had sold propofol only in single-use 20ml vials rather than in both 20ml vials and multi-use 50ml vials.
In May 2010, Teva announced that it would discontinue production of propofol.
Kent Steinriede
