Doctor and assistant convicted of spreading hepatitis C

The largest ever U.S. outbreak of the viral infection hepatitis C took place in 2007, when 9 people were infected and up to 50,000 people may have been exposed. The group all had one thing in common; they were patients at prominent doctor Dipak Desai's Endoscopy Clinic of Southern Nevada. Desai was convicted Monday of every charge against him—27 in total—including second-degree murder.
Hepatitis C causes liver cancer and liver failure, and can easily kill. When the outbreak was first discovered, 63,000 people were tested for it, eventually leading back to Desai and his assistant, Ronald Lakeman, who was convicted in 16 of the 27 charges against him, writes the LasVegasSun.com.
Defense attorneys for both men say they will appeal, but with more than 70 witnesses of unsafe injection practices, success seems unlikely. Desai and Lakeman reused anesthetic syringes and vials to save time and cut costs, AP.com reports.
The star witness was another former employee of Desai, who in December pleaded guilty to 5 felonies from his time with the clinic. Below is a brief informational ad on the few symptoms of hepatitis C, which are often slow to materialize and difficult to diagnose.