The Associated Press; Monday, September 23, 1991
Dan Sewell; Associated Press

A circuit judge last week ordered Richard Driskill, 31, to submit a new blood sample for analysis by CIGNA Dental Health Plan of Florida. Driskill went through CIGNA's plan to Dr. David Acer, a Jensen Beach dentist who continued practicing after developing full-blown acquired immune deficiency syndrome. He died one year ago.

Judge Robert Makemson ordered the new blood sample after CIGNA attorneys claimed Driskill had sex with a convicted prostitute who carries the AIDS virus. They say Driskill may have contracted the virus from somewhere besides Acer's office.

Driskill attorney David Eaton complained the insurance company is trying to get "every prostitute, crack addict and derelict in Indiantown" to testify.

Driskill's lawsuit is the only active claim stemming from stunning scientific studies concluding that there is a nearly 100 percent likelihood Acer infected five of his patients. Acer's is the only known case in which a health-care provider infected patients.

CIGNA doesn't admit liability but has settled lawsuits -- terms are confidential -- by two other patients who went to Acer through its dental plan. They are Kimberly Bergalis, a 23-year-old virgin, and Barbara Webb, a 65-year-old schoolteacher who had no risk factors for AIDS.

Driskill, married with a 12-year-old daughter, had admitted past drug use and having several extramarital affairs. But CIGNA attorneys this month produced two women who say they are HIV-positive and had sex-for-pay with Driskill. His attorneys say the new witnesses aren't credible.

"This is a smokescreen to try to bludgeon this family into a settlement," said Robert Montgomery, a prominent West Palm Beach attorney who represents Driskill and the two female former patients. "They are trying to take everybody's eye off the ball -- Rick was guilty of some transgressions he's not proud of, but this doctor has killed him."

Driskill has mostly avoided publicity. His wife, Deanne, said Sunday they are resolved not to "back down to CIGNA now."

"It's a little upsetting," she said. "I didn't expect them to be this dirty."

Steve Brown, a former FBI special agent who heads the Jacksonville-based Brown Group, said "it's no secret" he has investigators combing Indiantown, a town of about 5,000 residents. Brown declined further comment.

In recent depositions, Katrina Kelly Augustine, a 22-year-old convicted prostitute who is HIV-positive, gave conflicting answers when asked if Driskill was the man she twice had sex with. A former co-worker of Driskill, Carolyn Moore, 20, testified he paid her for sex "five or six times" after she already had the AIDS virus.

And a former friend of Driskill, construction worker and self-described bisexual Michael Edwards, testified the two had sexual relations several times up to 1981, although Driskill has denied it. The case could go to a jury trial here early next year, unless there is a settlement.

Copyright 1991/The Associated Press. Reproduced with permission. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the Permissions Desk, The Associated Press, 50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020.

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Copyright © 1991 - Associated Press. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the AP Permissions Desk.

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