Three years after the Baxter affair shook Croatia, Zagreb attorney Petar Badovinac recently released the information that he is representing some 80 new patients and their families who, as he claims, either died or are suffering the consequences of the use of the Baxter P-15 and P-18 series dialysis filters, and are seeking compensation for damages from the US company. The total claim amounts to approximately $US 60 million. Last month, Badinovac visited Chicago where he presented each case to the Baxter attorneys. Thanks to the Croatian community in Chicago, the US law firm Power Rogers & Smith has been hired to assist and work on those cases.

As is well known, a total of 23 people died in only one week in October 2001 in several Croatian dialysis centres due to faulty Baxter filters that had been distributed by Pliva. This tragedy was the top topic in the media in Croatia for weeks. Pliva succeeded in removing all responsibility for the disaster, while Baxter admitted after a broad investigation and analysis that the filters in two series were faulty and they could have contributed to the dialysis deaths. The families of the deceased patients received compensation from Baxter ranging from $US 1-1.5 million, and the attorneys representing those families also fared well. Among them was Petar Badinovac who did not have any problems proving that three of his clients died due to the Baxter filters, and he himself earned about a million dollars on those three clients.

Three years later, the situation is much more complicated for Badinovac who, it appears, is not going to have an easy time proving that the health and deaths of his 78 clients were impacted by the Baxter filters. Half of those patients are still living, the other half are not, having died one, two or three years following dialysis in which the incriminating filters were used. Though Badinovac, as he himself stated, sent all the documents on his clients to the US, Croatian and American experts we spoke with agree on one thing: that it is not possible that the Baxter filters impacted the health or caused the deaths of those patients one, two or three years down the road. It is true that the death rate of those patients is quite high due to this serious illness: from 7-12% per year in the US, and somewhat higher in Croatia. Anything above and beyond these limits should be reported to the Health Ministry regarding suspicions that something is not in order and an investigation be launched. Following the critical weak in October 2001, there were no reports made to the Health Ministry or suspicions reported. Ten days ago, Health Minister Andrija Hebrang commented that he had heard of the newest case of patients who had allegedly suffered due to the Baxter filters, but that his ministry had not received any reports on later deaths of dialysis patients. Had there been any cases or an increased incidence of dialysis deaths in particular clinical centres in Croatia, the doctors would have been obligated to report such to the Health Ministry. And no such reports were made. Several physicians from Croatian dialysis centres believe that Badinovac’s list is questionable and that he is trying to earn money on the misfortune and illness of others. Some are convinced that this attorney has promised those people something that he himself knew he could not provide for them.

We spoke with several of the patients and family members from Badinovac’s list about the case. We also spoke with Badinovac and American attorney Carter Thompson, Baxter’s external legal advisor. Thompson participated in the resolution of the 23 death cases in 2001 and recently met with Badinovac in Chicago. Thompson told us that this was the only contact made between the Croatian attorney and Baxter. No one from Baxter has ever met with him, nor has the company recognized the credibility of his claims. The meeting in Chicago on the status of the entire case was held between the American lawyer and Petar Badinovac, representative of the Croatian patients and their families, on 5 October, only three days prior to the Statute of Limitations on the case.

Carter Thompson, whom we spoke with in his office last week, told Nacional about his meeting with Petar Badinovac.

“Badinovac contacted me several months ago, and we agreed to meet in my office in Chicago in the first week of October in order to look over the evidence he compiled to support his claims that another 78 people in Croatia were damaged by the Baxter filters. This list of patients was sent to me earlier. This list also included medical and other documentation which he claimed supported his claims. In order to prepare for this meeting, I gave this documentation to a team of experts for review and their opinion. There conclusion was that the documentation and the claims made by Badinovac have absolutely nothing in common with the documentation and test results of the 23 patients who died over the course of a few days in October 2001 and for which Baxter recognized the documentation as credible and paid out compensation to the families of the deceased patients in order to soften the blow of losing a loved one. It is well known that the Croatian government conducted an investigation into the entire case and Vladimir Gašparović from Rebro Hospital and his colleagues from the Croatian team thoroughly worked through each of the 23 cases. An article was also published in the scientific journal Croatian Medical Journal. Baxter, as in all similar cases, was ready to accept all complaints concerning the incidents with the faulty filters that likely caused the death of those patients in October 2001 in the Croatian dialysis centres and was ready to discuss those cases. However, those case files have no similarities to those collected by attorney Badinovac for his 78 clients. The president of the Baxter company made a statement for the Croatian press in which he stressed that Baxter was willing to at least make it a little easier for those families who had lost a loved one due to the Baxter products and that the company is always ready to do the right thing. For that reason, the company willingly paid out compensation to the families of the 23 patients. These were people who died during dialysis or directly afterwards, within a few days, after receiving treatment in those centres that were using the faulty filters. Many of those Badinovac is representing are still alive, and as for those who are not alive, our studies have indicated that the Baxter filters could not be accountable for their deaths. Some of those people died one, two or three years later, of cancer, heart attack or other illness which in no way can be connected to the dialysis from October 2001.”

Attorney Thompson added that the Chicago meeting did not result in any deal or agreement, nor did Baxter agree to pay any compensation for any of the 78 patients on Badinovac’s list.

Considering that a deal was not made such as in the case of the 23 deceased patients from 2001, Badinovac hired an American law firm to represent him in the US. “I don’t know what will happen next. It is possible that Badinovac will bring some new documentation on the patients he represents and ask that we meet again to discuss the cases. I will be happy to do that, and if there is foundation for a settlement, Baxter will be happy to help those people out. However, Baxter is not willing to pay money to attorneys and patients who do not have concrete evidence. In other words, Baxter will not succumb to any type of extortion. Baxter is very suspicious of Badinovac’s claims, as they have come so late. We are skeptical of his claims that the filters could have resulted in death or a serious aggravation of the patients’ condition one, two or three years later.”

Attorney Thompson stated that since his meeting with the Croatian attorney, he has not received any new information from Badinovac or the law firm representing him in the US. To the question of whether Badinovac could sue Baxter, Thompson responded, “He can sue, but the question is whether the American courts will accept the lawsuit. My impression is that Badinovac and his clients are expecting too much from Baxter. From experience, I know that in cases such as these, attorneys are known to promise too much and deliver too little. I can’t comment on Badinovac’s cases because I don’t know what he told or promised his clients.”

Attorney Badinovac told Nacional that his meeting with Carter Thompson in the Sidley, Austin & Brown offices lasted ten days and that he found Thompson to be a very serious and excellent negotiator. He summed up the meeting with a single sentence, “We couldn’t meet, as they see, in the numbers.”

As Badinovac explained, the compensation requests were small for the living patients and twice as high for the deceased. In the US, he says, the situation is the other way around. Thompson told him that in the US, life is worth more than death. Badinovac claims that of the 81 cases, 78 were accepted and that they were discussed in terms of damages.

When asked whether there are grounds for Baxter to pay any damages to the patients from his last, Badinovac stated, “That is another problem that we were very angry about in the beginning. Thompson held our documentation since 12 February and did not contact us. He set up the negotiations for 5-6 October. Considering that 8 October was the first statute limitations deadline, I began to panic. I moved aside all talk of numbers and said that this was not correct and that I would only continue the negotiations under the condition that they sign a tolling agreement concerning non-statute limitations. And that is how we came to this agreement which states that there is no statute of limitations for those parties we have sought damages for, a total of 78 cases. Only 3 cases were rejected, for reasons I cannot discuss, and that agreement does not apply there. We did not succeed in agreeing on numbers, and I cannot discuss this as I am bound by non-disclosure.

“I think that they should not just dismiss the documentation that we submitted. Our toxicologist Plavšić stated that it is a normal occurrence that the organism cannot expel all of the toxins it was subjected to during dialysis. As such, there were certainly long-term consequences in those patients.”

We were interested in how long the tolling agreement concerning non-statute limitations signed with the Baxter representative was valid for.

“That contract went between Carter Thompson and the Congress Plaza Hotel, where I was staying and which was the base for our friends, attorneys, countrymen and others, two or three times. The first draft, in which the non-statute limitations was permanent, was not accepted by Thompson, and so he offered a proposal: from the moment that one of the sides informed the other that the negotiations were off, that would mark the beginning of a two month deadline for filing a damages suit. Our negotiations are ongoing. We have hired the most influential law firm in the state of Illinois, Power, Rogers & Smith, for the damages in this medical tragedy, to continue the negotiations on my behalf and to file suit if necessary,” commented Badinovac.

Badinovac told Nacional that he was angry with Thompson for when the process of collecting the documents started, he told him to submit the documents and files in Croatian and that they would translate them into English. However, as Badinovac claims, not a single document was returned translated. “We are facing a massive task, as there are now four and a half thousand documents to translate, certify with a notary and submit to our office in Chicago.”

When asked how he would prove that the Baxter filters were the cause of death or affected the health of patients one or more years after dialysis using those filters, Badinovac responded, “Many more people than are on this list came to me for help. At one point, I had over one hundred cases. I have invested maximum efforts to determine whether or not I could take on individual cases and had to reject some, thinking that I would not be able to help in those cases. I don’t see any reason why these should be rejected when they are well supported by the documents and by expert opinions. Unfortunately, one group of Zagreb physicians believes that after-the-fact deaths are not possible in this case. Some of those doctors were ordered to make such statements after the first deaths occurred in 2001. That is not the case, as it is necessary to look at the composition of those poisons the patients were exposed to. I have always protected my cases with the findings of experts. When I have expert findings for every case, I considered that case to be ready for delivery to Baxter. I leave this up to the experts who say that the majority of poisons cannot be eliminated from the organism upon the completion of dialysis. They can leave consequences and damage organs, regardless of the direct cause of death which at first appears to have no connection to dialysis.

Badinovac also announced the arrival of a team of medical experts to be hired by the law firm Power Rogers & Smith that will come to Croatia in order to once again analyze each individual case from Badinovac’s list. Joseph Powers, a partner in this firm who, according to Badinovac, is very well known for his successful resolution of similar medical cases, has commented that if he is not satisfied with one of the cases, he will not even consider seeking damages in that case.

Considering that the tolling agreement on non-statute limitations was signed in Chicago last month, it appears that the negotiations between the lawyer representing the Croatian patients and families and the Baxter representative will last a long time yet. Or they will come to an amount of damages which will satisfy both sides: from the alleged amount of $60 million sought by Badinovac, which he declined to confirm or deny, or an amount that Baxter will be willing to offer if the case seems likely to go to court.

Badinovac’s list included the names of 40 deceased patients and 41 cases of people who now have neurological or psychological problems. After returning from Chicago, Petar Badinovac commented for Večernji List that he had succeeded in launching negotiations with the law firm Power, Rogers & Smith, representing Baxter, on 78 cases: 39 deceased patients and just as many living with permanent damages. Nacional has received insight into this list. Information contained on the list includes the patient name, gender, age, health condition prior to dialysis treatment, place and time of treatment, type of dialysis filter, symptoms during treatment, time and cause of death and autopsy results and notes. According to the list, not a single anomaly was listed during treatment in 46 cases. In 32 cases, this is record that the patient suffered health problems during dialysis or directly afterwards. However, health problems in 32 cases, or rather in 15, refer to fear, feeling hot, rapid but stable pulse, increased blood pressure or nausea. The remaining patients complained of chest pains and other symptoms, which can be considered in the investigation.

Ante Večerina (64) from Rijeka died this past June. His kidneys began to fail in 1996 and for a long time, he feared treatment. His wife Ljubica said that Ante had problems immediately after the dialysis treatment. “My Ante would have a high fever for a week. He had diarrhea, high blood pressure and was itchy all over. He suffered so badly that he would have to take baths in the middle of the night to calm it down. We filed suit and are represented by attorney Tea Žunić. She is our only connection to the court,” said Ljubica Večerina.