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Fri 23 Jun, 2006 09:20 pm
Man With Faulty Penile Implant Gets $400K
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - A former handyman has won more than $400,000 in a lawsuit over a penile implant that gave him a 10-year erection.
Charles "Chick" Lennon, 68, received the steel and plastic implant in 1996, about two years before Viagra went on the market. The Dura-II is designed to allow impotent men to position the penis upward for sex, then lower it.
But Lennon could not position his penis downward. He said he could no longer hug people, ride a bike, swim or wear bathing trunks because of the pain and embarrassment. He has become a recluse and is uncomfortable being around his grandchildren, his lawyer said.
In 2004, a jury awarded him $750,000. A judge called that excessive and reduced it to $400,000. On Friday, the Rhode Island Supreme Court affirmed that award in a ruling that turned on a procedural matter.
"I don't know any man who for any amount of money would want to trade and take my client's life," said Jules D'Allessandro, Lennon's attorney. "He's not a whole person."
A lawyer representing both Dura-II manufacturer Dacomed Corp. and the company's insurer declined to comment. Dacomed maintained that nothing was wrong with the implant. It filed for bankruptcy after the lawsuit was filed.
Lennon cannot get the implant removed because of health problems, including open-heart surgery, his lawyer said. Impotence drugs could not help Lennon even if he were able to have the device taken out, because tissue had be to removed for it to be implanted.
Quote:Dacomed maintained that nothing was wrong with the implant
Nothing wrong except that it didn't work as promised.
I could probably think up some good jokes on this but that "uncomfortable around his grandkids" was just too sad.
I think he deserved the $750,000.
The great big clown pants, the kind that open like an upside down umbrella, might hide the embarrassment, but the pain and suffering would last a lifetime.
Of the pants, or the implant?