First Hep C lawsuit reportedly filed; lawyers jockey for clients

The growing number of patients who allegedly contracted hepatitis C from an indicted operating room scrub technician has led to another kind of outbreak: ads from lawyers seeking to represent them.

Lawyers soliciting clients have run both newspaper and television ads in Denver and Colorado Springs trying to reach former surgery patients from Rose Medical Center in Denver and Audubon Surgery Center in Colorado Springs.

“You may have been exposed to the Potentially Deadly Virus Hepatitis C!” reads one ad run in the Gazette this week by Michael Moore, a Houston lawyer.

The Aurora law firm of Frank D. “the Strong Arm” Azar also has been running television ads seeking Rose and Audubon patients who may have contracted hepatitis C from Kristen Diane Parker.

A federal grand jury last week indicted Parker, 26, of Elizabeth on charges that she swapped dirty needles filled with saline solution to obtain a powerful painkiller meant for surgery patients while working at the two hospitals.

According to Law Week Colorado, Azar has filed one lawsuit against Rose Medical Center on behalf of a woman whose test results had not yet been returned.

Neither Azar nor Moore could be reached for comment Wednesday.

Advertising for those patients is legal and ethical under the Code of Conduct listed on the Colorado Bar Association Web site.

“Advertising involves an active quest for clients, contrary to the tradition that a lawyer should not seek clientele,” the commentary on the rules states.

“However, the public's need to know about legal services can be fulfilled in part through advertising.”

Not all lawyers, however, view television and print advertising as an appropriate or effective way to reach potential clients.

David Woodruff of the Denver firm Hillyard Wahlberg Kudla & Sloane said they prefer to have clients find them via the Internet.

The firm had a lawyer present for Parker’s initial court appearance in U.S. District Court in Denver. Their Web site shows a blue latex gloved hand holding a needle and describes the firm as actively pursuing claims in the case.

“We have a philosophy that television advertising is not beneficial to the legal profession,” Woodruff said.

He said his firm is not seeking clients from the 5,700 surgery patients who were advised by Rose and Audubon to undergo screening following Parker’s July 3 arrest.

Woodruff said the law firm has been in touch with some of the 19 patients whom the U.S. Attorney’s offices contends have tested positive for hepatitis C that can be linked to Parker. Those patients are looking at potentially “astronomical damages,” he said.

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