Infected Man Seeks New Liver, Financial Relief

January 9, 2006

By Nichole Aksamit

A 50-year-old Fremont man infected during a hepatitis C outbreak more than

five years ago now is seeking financial help and a liver transplant.

Glenn Doescher sued the Fremont Cancer Center and its director, Dr. Tahir

Javed, after state health officials linked 99 hepatitis C infections to

reused syringes and other poor infection control practices at the clinic in

2002.

Doescher's case is still pending. A benefit to help pay his medical bills is

scheduled for February.

He said Thursday that he underwent treatment at the clinic for hemophilia

and later tested positive for hepatitis C. He took the recommended hepatitis

treatments, and initial tests suggested he was in the clear. But, he said, a

third blood test came back positive for hepatitis C, and the disease now is

damaging his liver.

His fiancee, Lynn Behrens, said Doescher has been confused and extremely

tired ever since. She said he lost his over-the-road trucking business

because he couldn't work.

Both said Doescher got on the transplant list at the Nebraska Medical Center

and now awaits a match. Behrens said the transplant is expected to cost

upward of $350,000 and Doescher has no insurance.

A fellow hepatitis C sufferer, McKnight of Fremont, has organized a

benefit to help.

The event -- a light dinner with a free-will donation, raffles and a silent

auction -- is 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Feb. 26 at the Trinity Lutheran Church school

gymnasium in Fremont. Donations also can be made to the Glenn Doescher

Medical Relief Fund at Fremont National Bank and Trust.

Doescher's suit is one of 92 outbreak-related malpractice cases filed in

Dodge County District Court. Court records indicate his is among nine cases

still pending and one of three that could go to trial in June; 82 other

cases have been settled or dismissed. In October, a jury awarded $685,000 to

and Verena Ridder in the only case tried so far.

Source: Omaha World - Herald

l_relief/index.html?source=r_health

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