Ed Bernstein and Gerald Gillock Secure Settlement for 43 Hepatitis C Victims in Teva Propofol Outbreak

In February 2008, the Southern Nevada Health District announced one of the largest healthcare-associated hepatitis C outbreaks in American history. Health officials traced the infections to the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada, a clinic operated by Dr. Dipak Desai. Staff there had been reusing oversized single-use vials of propofol, the common sedation drug, on multiple patients, drawing from the same vial across procedures in a way that allowed blood-to-blood transmission of the virus.

Teva Parenteral Medicines, a subsidiary of Teva Pharmaceuticals, manufactured the propofol at issue. Plaintiffs' lawyers argued that Teva sold the drug in multi-dose-sized vials clearly marked for single-use only, while knowing that clinical settings routinely reused them, and that the oversized packaging made unsafe reuse foreseeable. More than 60,000 former patients at Nevada endoscopy facilities were ultimately advised to get tested for hepatitis C and other blood-borne diseases.

Las Vegas attorney Ed Bernstein, working alongside veteran trial lawyer Gerald Gillock, took on 43 of those infected clients. Their cases were filed in Clark County District Court along with roughly 120 parallel lawsuits. Teva contested liability and the litigation stretched across several years, with the company losing three early trials before Clark County juries. Those verdicts produced cumulative compensatory and punitive damage awards of approximately $800 million. A fourth trial was underway when a global resolution was reached.

In February 2012, Teva agreed to pay $285 million to settle the remaining lawsuits, covering claims from approximately 150 former patients. Chief District Judge Jennifer Togliatti oversaw the settlement discussions. The Bernstein-Gillock group of 43 clients participated in the resolution. Individual payout amounts were not publicly disclosed.

The criminal side of the case ran parallel. Dr. Desai and two nurse anesthetists faced felony charges including racketeering and patient neglect, with trial set for mid-2012.