$104 Million Verdict for Air Force Veteran Who Contracted Hepatitis C from Reused Propofol Vials
After trial: Rather than pursue collection or fight an appeal, the Washingtons joined roughly 120 other plaintiffs in a $285 million global settlement Teva Pharmaceuticals announced in February 2012 to resolve the Nevada propofol hepatitis C litigation. The amount actually paid to them individually was not disclosed.
Won by Friedman Rubin.
A Clark County jury awarded retired Air Force veteran Michael Washington and his wife Josephine $104 million after finding that propofol manufacturers Teva Parenteral Medicines and Baxter Healthcare knowingly supplied oversized anesthetic vials that clinics routinely reused, spreading hepatitis C to patients.
What happened
In July 2007, Michael Washington, a retired U.S. Air Force technical sergeant, underwent a routine colonoscopy at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas. Weeks later he learned he had contracted hepatitis C. The source was a reused vial of propofol, the intravenous anesthetic used to sedate patients during the procedure.
The infection traced back to a systemic problem. Teva Parenteral Medicines and Baxter Healthcare sold propofol in 50 mL and 100 mL multi-dose vials to outpatient endoscopy clinics where individual patients typically needed only 10 to 20 mL per procedure. Clinic staff re-entered the vials for successive patients. Both companies knew this reuse practice was common and understood that re-entering a vial with a used needle could contaminate the remaining drug with blood-borne pathogens. Neither company added single-use warnings or changed their packaging.
The Las Vegas hepatitis C outbreak tied to Dr. Dipak Desai's clinics ultimately prompted health officials to advise roughly 50,000 patients to get tested. Multiple civil trials followed. Richard Friedman of Friedman Rubin tried the Washington case in Clark County District Court, arguing that the drug manufacturers, not just the clinic staff, bore responsibility for the outbreak by designing their product distribution in a way that made unsafe reuse predictable.
On October 10, 2011, the jury returned a verdict of $14 million in compensatory damages for Michael and Josephine Washington. Two days later, on October 12, 2011, the jury added $90 million in punitive damages, assigning $60 million to Teva and $30 million to Baxter, for a combined total of $104 million. After the verdict, Friedman noted that three separate juries had now rejected the argument that clinic personnel alone caused the outbreak.
The verdict was one of several large jury awards in the propofol litigation. Teva later entered a broad settlement covering approximately 120 lawsuits, resolving the pending appeals. The terms of the Washington settlement were not publicly disclosed.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.Inner Circle of Advocates: Jury Awards Couple $104M in Vegas Hepatitis Case (Oct. 2011)·Archived copy
- 2.Law360: Teva, Baxter Told to Pay $104M in Propofol Hepatitis Case (Oct. 2011)
- 3.Globes (Israeli financial press): Teva Hit by Third Propofol Damages Jury Verdict (Oct. 2011)·Archived copy
- 4.Las Vegas Review-Journal: Drug Maker to Pay $285 Million to Settle Hepatitis Lawsuits
More proven verdicts from Friedman Rubin
All Friedman Rubin proven verdicts →A King County jury awarded $857 million in December 2023 to seven people, five former students and two parent volunteers, who said they were sickened by PCBs leaking from light fixtures at the Sky Valley Education Center in Monroe, Washington. The verdict included $73 million in compensatory damages and $784 million in punitive damages against Monsanto and its successor Pharmacia. In April 2024 a King County judge cut the punitive award to $365 million under Missouri's statutory cap on punitive damages, reducing the total to $438 million. Monsanto appealed, and Bayer said in February 2026 that Monsanto had settled the remaining Sky Valley jury verdicts on confidential terms, so what was ultimately paid is not public.
A King County jury awarded $275 million to thirteen Sky Valley Education Center students and families who suffered neurological injuries from PCB-contaminated light fixtures manufactured by Monsanto.
A King County jury awarded three Monroe, Washington teachers $185 million after finding that PCBs manufactured by Monsanto leached from fluorescent light ballasts at their school and caused permanent neurological injuries.
A King County jury awarded $100 million to four plaintiffs who suffered neurological, hormonal, and cancer-related illnesses after years of exposure to PCBs from defective fluorescent light fixtures at a Monroe, Washington school.
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