Attorney Robert Eglet Calls Plaintiffs to the Stand in 2nd Hepatitis C Trial in Clark County

LAS VEGAS, Sept. 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- This information is being released by SCM:

In the second trial following the largest notification by the Clark County Health Department that 50,000 residents of Nevada may be infected with hepatitis, plaintiff James Arnold took the stand today and described the first day he noticed his wife was sick following her colonoscopy treatment at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada. Grimacing from pain and in tears from his recent treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma that he's had for several years, James Arnold said his wife received the letter notifying her she may have the deadly virus. "It has been brutal on her. It's been tough. Fever, chills. She has problems with balance, nausea. With my cancer, we didn't worry about her getting it. With hepatitis C we worry about me getting that. We don't hold hands, we don't kiss, it's just sad. She'd never be able to handle it if I somehow got it. I lost my wife and I got a roommate," said James Arnold."

(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110920/LA71414)

Anne Arnold took the stand after her husband. Formerly a school bus driver for handicap children, Arnold described her hope to again work with the children. Arnold got a colonoscopy at the recommendation of her primary care physician as a preventive measure. Then she received the letter from the Clark County Health District. "I went to be tested and the doctors called me to a room and I knew right then, my heart just fell," said Arnold. Currently under treatment for depression Arnold is on anti-anxiety medication to manage the emotional challenges she faces on a daily basis as a result of having hepatitis C. "I have this disease. I might give it to someone. I can't get that out of my head," said Arnold. "My husband and I sleep in separate rooms. My husband's immune system is depleted, if I gave him hepatitis C I couldn't live with myself," said Arnold.

In the complaint filed in Clark County District Court by Mainor Eglet Law Firm attorneys Robert Eglet, Robert Adams and Artemus Ham on behalf of plaintiffs Anne Arnold and spouse James Arnold the defendants -- Teva Parenteral Medicines, Inc., SICOR Inc. and Baxter Healthcare Corporation -- are each responsible in some manner for causing injury and damages to the plaintiffs.

Plaintiff Anne Arnold was exposed to the virus hepatitis C when a contaminated jumbo 50mL infusion vial of the anesthesia medication Propofol was reused during a colonoscopy procedure at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada on July 13, 2007. 50mL infusion vials of Propofol are meant for long term sedation of patients, not short outpatient procedures like colonoscopies. Arnold was later diagnosed as having contracted hepatitis C. The lawsuit filed by Mainor Eglet alleges design defect, breach of implied warranty for a particular purpose, failure to properly warn by sending a Dear Health Care Professional letter and duty to monitor.

SOURCE SCM