A man who visited a health center to help him lose weight instead had his penis 'completely ruined' after being misdiagnosed with erectile dysfunction.
After a lengthy four-year battle in court, a jury in New Mexico awarded an unnamed man a staggering $412 million in damages, which NuMale Medical Center must fork out, along with other officials linked with the company, after one of its doctors unnecessarily prescribed the 66-year-old with penile injection shots.
The company has clinics in Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Nevada, Nebraska, North Carolina, and Wisconsin, but it is understood the center in question is located in Bernalillo County, in New Mexico, which includes the state's largest city, Albuquerque.
The complainant explained in court that the initial visit took place back in 2017, after he visited the site hoping for testosterone replacement therapy, as well as help to lose weight.
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However, court documents state that he was misdiagnosed with having erectile dysfunction, and was subsequently sold on a treatment program that cost $5,000 to assist with the false diagnosis.
After three years, the complainant finally took the medical center to court in 2020, and following its conclusion on Monday (November 25), he received the largest medical malpractice award in history.
The initial $412 million is expected to rise to more than $550 million with interest.
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Speaking after the court session, Lori Bencoe, a lawyer representing the now-72-year-old man, said: “It’s a national record-setting case and it’s righteous because I don’t think there’s any place for licensed professionals to be defrauding patients for money. That is a very egregious breach of their fiduciary duty.
"That’s breach of trust and anytime someone is wearing a white coat, they shouldn’t be allowed to do that.”
Another of his attorneys, Nick Rowley labeled the man's penis as being 'completely ruined', adding: “Because of corporate fraud and greed, [the man] faces irreversible harm that has profoundly impacted his body and his life."
President of NuMale Medical Center Brad Palubicki said in a statement that his clinics are 'committed to providing safe, high-quality patient care'.
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Speaking to the Associated Press, he said: "While we respect the judicial process, due to ongoing legal proceedings, we cannot comment on specific details of the case at this time."
The treatment the anonymous man received came in the form of testosterone pellet implantation, which were administered at the medical center, while the penis injections were provided to him to do at home but was shown how to use them - and then later received 'reversal medication' for his penis.
When he returned complaining that they didn't work he was told that he was doing it wrong and so a physician assistant then demonstrated how he should use it and sent him 'home with a medically induced and medically unnecessary erection', according to the press release.
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Which added: “[He] is now impotent and unable to have an erection, cannot urinate standing up, and has irreversible fibrosis of the penis or scar tissue where living cells used to be. His impotence is permanent and the damage is completely irreversible."
Joe Yates