Motion filed to dismiss Alabama penis amputation suit

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - An attorney for physicians accused of amputating a man's penis during an alleged circumcision filed a motion on Tuesday to dismiss the lawsuit and said the claims against his clients are false.

Mike Florie said his clients, Dr. Michael Bivins and Dr. Alan Aikens, never performed a procedure on Johnny Lee Banks Jr. that involved the removal of tissue or the amputation of the man's penis.

Banks' attorney, John Graves, filed a malpractice suit July 22 accusing the doctors and their medical groups of malpractice, negligence and other wrongdoing. It seeks an unspecified amount of money. The two doctors, the Urology Centers of Alabama and Simon-Williamson Clinic were named as defendants in the suit.

Florie said in a statement that he's also planning to seek sanctions and disciplinary actions against Graves and his law firm. Graves filed the lawsuit on Banks' behalf before reviewing any of the man's medical records, Florie said.

"That's an absolute true statement," Graves said Tuesday afternoon. "I feel pretty certain that when we file our response to the motion to dismiss and the motion for sanctions, our reasoning will be abundantly clear."

In an affidavit, President of Simon-Williamson Clinic, Dr. Joseph Wu, said Banks was being treated for kidney disease, diabetes, heart failure and other illnesses and has a history of bilateral lower extremity amputations. Banks was last seen by Dr. Aikens in early November, well before the procedure Banks alleges happened in June of 2014, Wu said.

Dr. Bivins said in an affidavit that he evaluated Banks in February 2014 for swelling to his genitals and performed a small slit that would allow him to insert a catheter to help him urinate. Bivins said he told Banks that he'd likely need to undergo a circumcision at a later date, but Bivins said he didn't perform the alleged procedure.

Filing the suit without reviewing Banks' records is a violation of the Alabama Rules of Professional Conduct, the Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure and the Alabama Litigation Accountability Act, Florie said. He accused Graves of intentionally trying to harm the physician's reputations by filing the suit.

Graves said he "skimmed" the motion for sanctions and had seen the motion to dismiss the case, but hadn't delved deeply into the documents Tuesday afternoon. Graves said he stands firmly by his client's allegations and declined to discuss specifics of the case before a hearing scheduled for early August.

"I don't file frivolous lawsuits," he said. "I'm far too busy and I think we had a pretty good reason."

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