Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1991. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Miami Herald (MH) - Thursday, August 15, 1991
David Zeman; Herald Staff Writer
Lisa Shoemaker, 35, of Birmingham, Mich., filed the negligence action Tuesday in Martin County Circuit Court.
Another former patient, John Yecs Jr., of Stuart, filed a notice of his intent to sue last week, joining Kimberly Bergalis, 23, of Fort Pierce, former school teacher Barbara Webb, 65, and citrus worker Richard Driskill, 31.
Bergalis, the only one of the five to contract full-blown AIDS, has already settled her $1 million claim with Acer's estate. The others intend to seek shares of the remaining $2 million, the amount left in Acer's malpractice insurance policy.
"I'd like to hope there will be cooperation between us," Joel S. Cronin, Shoemaker's attorney, said Wednesday.
Shoemaker, who lived in Jensen Beach before moving to Michigan, made at least 10 visits to Acer for routine examinations as well as root canal therapy, according to the national Centers for Disease Control.
She told CDC investigators that Acer wore gloves and a mask and that she recalled no specific incidents that would have exposed her to Acer's blood.
She tested positive for the virus in October 1988, but did not make the connection to Acer until she read about Bergalis in People magazine last year.
Acer died from AIDS last September.
"I am very upset with Dr. Acer for what he's done not only to my client and the four other people, but I'm very upset with what he's done to the medical profession," said Cronin, who is also a licensed doctor.
The CDC is investigating how the dentist may have transmitted the virus, though faulty sterilization procedures are suspected.
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