Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 19, 1990 TAG: 9004190187
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The lawsuit was dismissed this week in Roanoke Circuit Court at the request of S. Michael Long.
Long, 39, had claimed in the suit that doctors Edgar Cutter and Michael Basile tested him for acquired immune deficiency syndrome at Community Hospital in 1987 at his request, but failed to notify him when the test results came back positive.
Basile and Cutter have denied the allegations. While Cutter has said in court filings that he knew nothing of the tests, Basile admitted that he ordered the tests at his patient's request.
However, Basile's defense as outlined in court papers would have contended that he was never informed of the test results - and that Long never asked him.
Long "was in a better position than any of the physicians to contact the hospital or his treating physician to learn this information," the court papers state.
The suit was one of the first of its kind filed in the country, lawyers familiar with AIDS cases have said.
In accusing the doctors of malpractice, Long also claimed that he did not receive counseling - now considered an important part of AIDS tests.
And Long, who is in failing health, claimed that the doctors' negligence robbed him of valuable time to seek treatment that may have delayed the onslaught of the disease.
An order dismissing the case, filed Monday in Circuit Court, made no mention of an out-of-court settlement. Lawyers involved in the case declined to comment, citing a confidentiality agreement among the parties.
Long also declined to comment.
Had the case gone to trial, lawyers may have raised the fact that Long suffers from Munchausen's syndrome, a condition in which patients crave the attention of doctors and nurses so much that they often fake illnesses.
Medical records filed in court show that Long first developed the condition after being hospitalized for a football injury as a 15-year-old.
Long "described feeling attracted to the attention he obtained during his stay in the hospital" and later faked illnesses as a way to seek sympathy, court records stated.
Long apparently contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion that he received during one of his numerous stays in the hospital.
In his original lawsuit filed last May, Long claimed that he suffered emotional distress after he had sex with several women - unwittingly exposing them to the AIDS virus after he was tested at Community Hospital but never told of the results.
But Judge Clifford Weckstein ruled earlier this year that Long could not sue for emotional distress because he had failed to show any physical injuries on which to base the claim.
by CNB