Dipak Desai, MD, has been found guilty of all 27 criminal charges he faced, including second-degree murder, for his role in the largest hepatitis C outbreak in U.S. history. But the former gastroenterologist's face betrayed no emotion as the jury's verdict was read in a Las Vegas courtroom on Monday, even as his wife sobbed and his daughter cried out for the father she may never hug again.

Dr. Desai was led out of court in handcuffs with former colleague Ronald Lakeman, CRNA. The pair stood accused of reusing contaminated vials of the sedative propofol in 2007 at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada, which Dr. Desai owned. They were also charged with submitting falsified anesthesia records to insurers for reimbursement under false pretenses, limiting the use of supplies needed for safe endoscopic procedures, failing to properly clean endoscopes, and overloading case schedules and rushing through procedures in order to boost the facility's bottom line. Murder was added to the litany of charges when a former patient infected with hep C died in April 2012.

Mr. Lakeman was found guilty of 16 of the 27 charges he faced, but avoided a murder conviction. He, too, faces life imprisonment when both men are sentenced in September. Their attorneys will reportedly appeal the convictions before then.

Keith Mathahs, CRNA, who worked alongside Dr. Desai and Mr. Lakeman, copped a plea last December, negotiating a potential life sentence down to a maximum 6-year jail term in exchange for testifying against his former colleagues.

Want to hear the inside story? Register now for this fall's OR Excellence conference in Las Vegas, where Brian Labus, senior epidemiologist at the Southern Nevada Health District, will reveal what he saw and heard during his investigation into what went so very wrong at Dr. Desai's clinic.

Daniel Cook