Partner Michael Badowski Secures Dismissal for Urology Group

Margolis Edelstein was called upon to defend a urology practice and its physician urologists in five separately filed lawsuits involving allegations of negligent transmission of hepatitis C. For many years, the urology group unknowingly conducted in-office prostate biopsies using reprocessed sterilized biopsy instruments which had been designated by the manufacturer for “single use only”. When the practice physicians were made aware of this, they alerted approximately 2000 of their past prostate biopsy patients and offered to pay for each of them to be tested for infectious diseases. 1800 patients were tested; five of which proved positive for HCV. All five filed suit. Margolis Edelstein partner, Michael Badowski, secured dismissal of all five cases by establishing that there was entirely insufficient proof linking the patients’ newly diagnosed HCV to their prostate biopsies insofar as HCV can remain dormant for decades without symptoms. In one case, Mr. Badowski succeeded in the Plaintiff’s attorney being sanctioned with the payment of attorneys’ fees when review of his client’s past medical records conclusively confirmed that he had been diagnosed with HCV long before his prostate biopsy.