Las Vegas Clinic Owner Gets Life in Prison over Hep. C Outbreak

Believed to be one of the largest of its kind in the US

A former Las Vegas endoscopy clinic owner was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 18 years, following his criminal convictions in a 2007 hepatitis C outbreak believed to be one of the largest in the U.S.

Clark County District Court Judge Valerie Adair sentenced Dipak Desai, 63, on Thursday. The former state medical board member was found guilty in July of 27 criminal charges, including second-degree murder, in a viral outbreak that officials traced to his clinics.

Desai was convicted in the death of 77-year-old Rodolfo Meana in April 2012, and authorities have since reported the death of a second infected person in the case.