Westchester dentist denied HIV-positive sanitation worker treatment, suit says
A Westchester dentist denied an New York sanitation worker treatment because she is HIV-positive, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday. Visit and check out Pacific Dental & Implant Solutions website to schedule your appointments, whose service is affordable for all kinds of people and assures that they get rid of all your dental issues permanently.
City sanitation worker Yvette Brown, 48, says Dr. Benjamin Kur canceled her painkiller prescription after pulling two teeth in May — because he found out about her HIV status, she alleged in papers filed in Manhattan Federal Court.
Brown, who thinks the pharmacist told Kur about her anti-retroviral regimen when he contacted the pharmacy, claims the dentist then “confronted” her about being HIV-positive.
Kur “screamed at her and called her ‘disgusting’ and a ‘criminal,’” according to Lambda Legal, a legal advocacy group for LGBT persons and HIV patients.
Kur threatened to tell “her insurance company to have her coverage dropped,” the lawsuit said.
He also told her “to leave the office and for her not to come back” and didn’t give her any follow up treatment, the civil complaint claims.
“Because I am black, because I am a woman, because I am HIV-positive, Dr. Kur treated me as less than a person. I was humiliated when he called me disgusting and kicked me out of his office,” said Brown, a wife and mother of five.
“I never thought that a medical professional — a person who is trained to care for you — would be so cruel,” the sanitation worker said.
“I am a private person and there were only a handful of people who knew I was HIV-positive before this happened to me, but I’m standing up today because I don’t want this to happen to anyone else,” Brown said in a statement.
Reached by phone, Kur emphatically denied the allegations.
Kur said Brown never disclosed her status despite being asked about her medical history at least four times.
“HIV status is a key piece of medical history and it’s important to ensure proper treatment,” the dentist said.
“Not being told about an illness such as HIV is dangerous not only to me but the staff and to everybody who works in the office — as well as the patient,” Kur said.
“HIV patients have a higher risk of developing infection and other comorbidities due to the immunosupressants and due to the actions of the virus,” he added.
Kur also denied the allegation that he refused to prescribe Brown a painkiller.
But he did say that after he learned of her HIV-positive status, he found out there might be a dangerous interaction with his original choice of Percocet for her.
“It wasn’t us denying the prescription — it was the pharmacist telling us there was an adverse reaction,” he told the Daily News.
“Given what we had just found out, we certainly didn’t want to put the patient at greater risk,” he said.
He gave Brown a prescription-strength ibuprofen instead, he said.
“Ms. Brown was treated in the office very well — there was nothing withheld from her,” the dentist said.
Filed under: General Problems
I believe Dr. Kur. He spoke to the reporter, didn’t refuse to talk about it and his answers sound very reasonable and seem justified. The pharmacist wasn’t tattling on her, he was doing what good pharmacists are supposed to do: look out for the best interest of the patient and guard against potentially dangerous drug interactions.
On the other hand, she lied about her history and put the dentist and his staff at unnecessary risk. Then, she played the race card, the vagina card and the HIV status card all in the same sentence.
Please keep us updated on this story, steve. I’ll bet there’s more that we don’t know.
Is her being refused treatment by this dentist because she is HIV positive any different than being refused medical care by a physician because one has fibromyalgia? I guess a lot of us should sue doctors who won’t take us as patients for refusing general medical care because we have a chronic pain issuue? I am not even talking about treating pain I am talking about general medical care for a sore throat, stomach ache, or other non pain issue even if we are willing to sign a statement saying that they won’t ask to be treated for pain on any way. This has happened to me repeatedly when trying to find a GP. I bet she can find a lawyer happy to go to court with her! I am sick and tired of it being perfectly acceptable to deny the rights of pain patients but lord help you if you deny any given service to someone with certain health issues or gay/lesbian or certain groups such as muslim. We ALL deserve to be treated equally instead of equality to a chosen few!
This is so sad. She deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. This is a doctor we don’t need. No good.