Couple Sues Doctor Involved in Massive Hepatitis C Outbreak

By Brittany Golledge

Published on October 14, 2005

Robert Ridder and his wife are suing Dr. Tahir Javed and a Fremont Cancer Center nurse, Linda Prochaska, for $10 million in damages. The couple alleges that Robert, who was undergoing chemotherapy at the center in 2000, contracted Hepatitis C as a result of poor infection control practices. Robert and his wife have testified in court that the infection led to a variety of ill consequences, including permanent damage to Robert's liver.

Robert Ridder is one of 92 people to file negligence lawsuits as a result of the outbreak, which was one of the largest of its kind in U.S. history. While most of the other medical malpractice suits have been settled, Ridder's case is to the first to make it to trial.

Attorneys for Prochaska and Javed have admitted that negligence played a role in the outbreak; however, they take issue with the amount of damages, noting that the verdict isn't supposed to be punitive. They are asking the jury to award damages of $50,000 to $150,000. Nebraska currently has medical malpractice caps that would limit any recovery to $1.25 million per claim.

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