DeKalb man wins injury lawsuit

By Péralte C. Paul

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

An Ellenwood man who said he suffered permanent scarring following a series of treatments for erectile dysfunction was awarded more than $9 million by a DeKalb County jury.

John Henry Howard, 53, was awarded $750,000 in compensatory damages and $8.5 million in punitive damages in his suit against Boston Men’s Health Center Inc.

The company, based in Altamont Springs, Fla., operates 22 clinics across the United States and Puerto Rico as Boston Medical Group. Its Web site says it treated more than 30,000 men last year.

Boston Medical contends it did nothing wrong. Alan F. Herman, the Atlanta attorney who represented the company, said his client has not decided if it will appeal the verdict, handed down Sept. 25. The company has until Nov. 4 to appeal or file post-trial motions.

The company, which operates six more clinics overseas, has been sued at least two other times. Both of those cases – one in Georgia and another in Texas – were settled out of court for undisclosed settlements. The Better Business Bureau says it received two complaints about the company in the last three years but that both were resolved.

During a six-day trial, Howard, a truck driver, testified he went to Boston Medical Group’s Atlanta clinic for help with erectile dysfunction in 2006.

He received an injection to his genitals using a proprietary formula that includes papaverine. That drug is used to improve blood flow, said Chad Ritenour, an assistant professor of urology and at the Emory University School of Medicine and director of the Men’s Health Center at the Emory Clinic.

Use of the drug can lead to priaprism, a prolonged erection for more than four hours, and to permanent damage and tissue scarring, Ritenour said, especially if it’s the same injection site.

Howard purchased a six-month supply of of the treatment for $1,210 and was instructed to inject himself with it three times a week.

Fred Orr, his Decatur attorney, argued his client was deceived into believing the regimen was a cure.

"He believed what they told him and because he believed what they told him he's permanently damaged," Orr said.

The company said it explained in detail to Howard the proper procedures to take with his injections and what to do in case of a complication.

The defense said Howard waited too long to seek medical help after his first home self-injection led to complications.