The Health Plan of Nevada (HPN) has been slapped with a $500 million punitive damages award for its nonexistent role in the spread of hepatitis C through a local endoscopy clinic.

According to news sources, a local endoscopy center run by Dipak Desai knowingly engaged in unsafe infection control practices that ultimately sickened several of his patients and forced tens of thousands more to be tested for the blood-borne disease. In addition to suing the doctor, plaintiffs' lawyers sought deeper pockets, targeting the companies that made and distributed the anesthetic used in outpatient colonoscopies, as well as the local health plan, HPN, for including Desai in its provider network.

HPN faces 40 additional lawsuits, in addition to the one in which a Clark County District Court jury found the local insurer liable and awarded $500 million in punitive damages. Critics claim that the chips were stacked against HPN because District Judge Timothy C. Williams barred the jury from hearing evidence that Desai and his staff engaged in horrific misconduct and ignored FDA-approved warnings on medicine vials against re-use, as well as evidence that showed how insurers rely on numerous private and government regulatory site visits and the resulting credentialing and licensing.

—Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal