A well known HMO operating in Brooklyn agreed to settle a claim of malpractice brought by a 43 year old mother and wife who suffered from systemic lupus erythmetosus (SLE). One of the complications of SLE is kidney inflammation, which can cause leakage of protein into urine and ultimately, kidney failure. Our client's primary physician ignored a recommendation received from a nephrologist to schedule a percutaneous renal biopsy as a result of his finding of proteinuria. The biopsy was never ordered and ten months later the patient went into total renal failure requiring permanent dialysis pending a kidney transplant. This case settled for 2.1 million dollars shortly before jury selection.