May 7, 2010 (United Press International) -- An attorney representing a Nevada man with hepatitis C is seeking more than $1 billion from two companies accused of failing to prevent the state's outbreak.
Lawyer Robert Eglet told the jury, which Wednesday found Teva Parenteral Medicine and Baxter Healthcare (NYSE:BAX) Services responsible for the hepatitis C infection of Henry Chanin, 62, that the companies should have to pay more than $1 billion for continuing to sell vials of the sedative propofol despite its links to previous hepatitis C outbreaks, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Friday.
Eglet, of Henderson, said the size of the payment would also serve as a message to other companies considering similar measures.
"This verdict has to be loud," he said. "They have to be able to hear it. They have got to hear your verdict across the state. They have got to hear your verdict from the East Coast to the West Coast because they're not listening. ... Make them listen."
Chanin contracted the disease during a 2006 colonoscopy at the Desert Shadow Endoscopy Center, one of the two Las Vegas medical clinics found to be linked to the hepatitis C outbreak.
