Summary Judgement Dismissal

HPM&B Partners Denise Holzka and Doreen Dufficy and Senior Associate Mandy Nguyen recently secured summary judgment dismissal on behalf of an Internal Medicine Physician and two Physician Groups in a case venued in Richmond County. Plaintiff alleged the defendants were negligent in failing to diagnose a patient with HIV. HPM&B moved on causation with support from an expert in Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease. The Court found that plaintiff failed to rebut our arguments that by the time the decedent presented for treatment with our clients he had been infected with HIV for at least five years which had progressed to AIDS, and that he was already suffering from HIV encephalopathy and the associated symptoms.  As such, no act or omission of our clients caused or contributed to the decedent’s injuries and no alternative treatment would have changed the outcome. The Court granted summary judgment and dismissed the case in its entirety.