Desai, doctor in hepatitis C outbreak, not competent for trial

Two court-appointed medical experts have concluded that Dr. Dipak Desai is not competent to stand trial on criminal charges stemming from a 2007 hepatitis C outbreak, the Review-Journal has learned.

District Judge Jackie Glass, who oversees all competency matters, could order Desai remanded to Lakes Crossing in Sparks, the state's mental health hospital, for further evaluation of his mental state in light of two strokes in recent years. Glass has scheduled a hearing this morning to disclose Desai's evaluations, one by a psychologist and the other by a psychiatrist.

The medical findings proably mean that Desai's March 14 trial will be postponed.

If remanded to Lakes Crossing, Desai would be evaluated by three physicians who would determine whether his competency can be established or restored.

Defense attorneys also could ask to have those evaluations done locally.

The process of determining whether Desai can ever assist his lawyers at trial could take more than a year. If Desai is deemed incompetent without the possibility of recovering, the charges against him would be dismissed, according to state law.

Desai, 60, a gastroenterologist who gave up his medical license after news of the outbreak, faces several felony charges, including racketeering, insurance fraud and neglect of patients.

Two of his former nurse anesthetists, Keith Mathahs and Ronald Lakeman, also are charged in the case.

The charges revolve around seven people who authorities say were infected with the potentially deadly hepatitis C virus at Desai's Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada. Hundreds of former patients might have been exposed at the clinic.

Some of Desai's former patients reacted angrily to the news Monday.

Patty Aspinwall, whose case of hepatitis C has been linked to Desai's clinics, said she is stunned.

"Unbelievable," she said. "I'm sorry, I'm having difficulty digesting what you just said. He's going to get away with murder? I mean we haven't died yet from it, but he gave us all a death sentence. And he's going to get away with it?"

Aspinwall, a 56-year-old grandmother, said she still isn't free of the nightmares she has had since her diagnosis.

She said she often cooks with surgical gloves and kisses her four grandchildren on the top of the head to ensure she doesn't pass the virus to them.

Las Vegas police officer Kenny Nogle, 26, another infected patient, shared Aspinwall's anger.

"Doctors are helping him out because he's a doctor," Nogle said. "He's a criminal, and he's getting away scot-free. What this shows is you can hurt people and get away with it. Get rich off it."

Nogle has undergone a yearlong anti-viral regimen with side effects doctors liken to those from the most powerful chemotherapy.

"I've lost all kinds of weight and muscle, but so far it (the virus) hasn't come back," he said. "There are people who aren't being cured, who are going to need liver transplants, and he gets to live the good life. This is sick."

Last September, as Glass ordered the medical evaluations of Desai, his attorney, Richard Wright, turned over medical records covering strokes Desai suffered in 2007 and 2008.

Wright contended that a July 2008 stroke left Desai with a "cognitive impairment" that diminished his ability to assist his lawyers.

But prosecutors challenged that claim.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Mike Staudaher filed court papers accusing Desai of hiding "behind a curtain of mental and physical impairment" to avoid facing the consequences of his actions.

The criminal investigation, which began shortly after health officials disclosed the hepatitis C outbreak in February 2008, was one of the largest undertaken by Las Vegas police.

Desai came under scrutiny after the Southern Nevada Health District linked cases of hepatitis C to the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada on Shadow Lane.

Officials notified 40,000 former clinic patients about possible exposure to blood-borne diseases because of unsafe injection practices. More notifications followed for patients of a sister clinic, Desert Shadow Endoscopy Center.

Court officials have estimated that as many as 250 former clinic patients infected with hepatitis have filed medical malpractice suits.

Thousands more have sued over the stress of having to be tested for hepatitis C.

Local health officials said the outbreak was caused by nurse anesthetists reusing vials of the sedative propofol among patients after they had become contaminated by syringes used on patients with hepatitis C.

Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.
com or 702-380-8135 or read more courts coverage
at lvlegalnews.com.