Dentist David Acer, who died of AIDS in 1990, is accused of transmitting the virus to a sixth person, court records showed Wednesday.
The family of Russell J. Horsley filed suit in Martin County Circuit Court alleging Acer was Horsley's dentist in Jensen Beach.Horsley, 63, died two years ago of complications from AIDS and two months later Acer died of the disease.
Before his death Acer, of Stuart, recommended that some 2,000 patients he treated be tested for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Horsley's family is suing William Foster, the representative of Acer's estate, and Cigna Dental Health of Florida Inc., the insurance company that paid him to treat its clients.
Five of Acer's patients were infected with the AIDS virus and investigators at the Centers for Disease Control said they almost certainly got the disease from the dentist.
The patients included Kimberly Bergalis, 23, of Fort Pierce, who made a personal plea to Congress for mandatory AIDS testing of health professionals shortly before her death in December 1991.
The other known patients with AIDS have also sued Acer's estate and Cigna, and settled out of court for undisclosed sums. They had blood tests that showed the DNA sequence for the virus in their bodies matched Acer's.
It is not known how the Horsley family will prove a connection to Acer or why they waited so long before coming forward.
In May the CDC concluded its investigation into the Acer case without learning how he transmitted HIV to the patients.
"It's a very personal matter," Horsley's daughter Jana Rossier of Martinsville, Ind., told the Miami Herald. "I really have no comment.