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JUNE 13, 2001

A federal judge in New Mexico on Monday awarded $2.1 million in damages to the widow of a Navajo man whom the Indian Health Service misdiagnosed.

U.S. District Judge Martha Vázquez said the Northern Navajo Medical Center in Shiprock committed negligence when it failed to properly treat Hardy Haceesa in 1998. Instead of being tested for a deadly virus, the 23-year-old man was sent home and died of the hantavirus three days later.

A separate lawsuit against San Juan Regional Medical Center is scheduled for trial in state court in October.

Get the Story:
$2.1 Million Awarded in Hantavirus Misdiagnosis (The Albuquerque Journal 6/13)

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