Prior lawsuits sought

Pre-trial legal papers fly in
negligent-credentialing case

By David Baker
Posted Saturday July 21 from near Norwich, England

Lawyers for the plaintiff in a lawsuit that alleges that Samaritan Hospital in Troy was negligent when it granted staff privileges to former gynecologist Akiva Abraham have asked the judge to issue a subpoena demanding certified copies of complaints in three earlier medical malpractice lawsuits that named Abraham and Samaritan Hospital as defendants.

The hospital apparently is trying to block the request.

In a motion put online by the Sararoga County clerk's office on Friday, lawyer Thomas Conway said the documents  "...are essential with respect to the trial of this action to establish plaintiff's claim of negligent credentialing in the above captioned action."

The three lawsuits were filed in Rensselaer County by Erin Plumley in 1999; Shahid Bhatti in 2001; and Dineen Nazarian in 2005,

The Bhatti case ended with a settlement of $1.4 million.

On the court system ECourt web page there is a listing of a motion to "quash subpoenas." However, spaces for more details have been left blank and the document is not yet available on the county clerk's page.

Conway's motion - of which only the first page is on the web site - also requests a subpoena for a complaint filed against Abraham in Nassau County.  Other documents in the case indicate that it relates to a claim for money.

Abraham - who is under court order to be brought from prison for the trial - is alleged to have performed an unauthorized and unnecessary surgery in 2004 that left Susan Stalker of Waterford with a disfigured breast.

The trial is scheduled to begin on July 30 before Supreme Court Justice Stephen A. Ferradino at the courthouse in Ballston Spa.
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