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TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2002

Government attorneys on Monday admitted the Indian Health Service wrongly diagnosed a Navajo man who died of the hantavirus but argued a $2 million award to his widow is unjustified.

The government is challenging the amount of the award a federal judge handed down in the case of Hardy Haceesa. He went to the Northern Navajo Medical Center in New Mexico and was told he had bronchitis.

He died three days later. U.S. District Judge Martha Vázquez ruled the center committed negligence but government attorneys claim the award overstepped New Mexico state limits and should be shared with a private hospital.

The case is before the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Get the Story:
Appeals Court Hears Arguments Over Award In Hantavirus Case (AP 5/6)

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