Impotence Linked to Treatment for Sexual Dysfunction Yields $2.4M

A Monmouth County jury awarded $2.4 million on April 22 to a man who claimed that a doctor improperly treated his sexual dysfunction, resulting in surgery that left the man impotent.

The jury originally awarded $3 million, but reduced it after finding the plaintiff, 38-year-old plaintiff, 20 percent negligent.

With interest, the award comes to $2.9 million, says plaintiff's attorney, John Connelly Jr., an associate at Drazin & Warshaw in Red Bank.

In 1990, plaintiff had traveled to Chicago to the Male Sexual Dysfunction Institute, run by the defendant, after he saw an advertisement in Muscle & Fitness magazine for treatment of impotence. The defendant gave plaintiff an injection of papaverine, a drug often used to treat impotence, and sold him a kit containing papaverine and syringes.

In October 1992, the plaintiff developed priapism, an abnormal prolonged erection, which can cause impotence if left untreated for more than two hours, says Connelly. The plaintiff called the defendant when the condition persisted for more than 20 hours Connelly says. The defendant advised him to go to the emergency room for treatment.

An injection of epinephrine at the hospital failed to remedy the problem, according to Connelly. The plaintiff later underwent surgery for a vein graft from his leg to release the blood, an operation that left him impotent, the suit alleged.

Connelly contends that the plaintiff was not informed of the danger of prolonged priapism and was not told that counseling, rather than papaverine injections, was the solution to plaintiff's premature ejaculation problem.

The defendant's attorney, has asked the Superior Court Judge to set aside the verdict. The judge did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

-By Padraic Cassidy

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