Getting your player ready...
LAS VEGAS — A jury in Las Vegas ordered two drug companies to pay a combined $500 million in punitive damages in the first of hundreds of civil cases stemming from a hepatitis C outbreak two years ago.
The Clark County District Court jury on Friday ordered Teva Parenteral Medicines to pay $356 million to Henry Chanin and his wife, Lorraine. Baxter Healthcare Corp. was ordered to pay the couple $144 million.
Health officials have blamed reusing vials of the anesthetic propofol for infecting patients with the incurable liver disease. The drug manufacturer and distributor provided the propofol, used by endoscopy clinics, at the heart of the hepatitis C outbreak.
