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Liability Related to Diagnosis and Transmission of AIDS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2021

Donald H.J. Hermann
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Given the pain, incapacity, and death that afflict persons with AIDS, it is not surprising that those exposed to HIV or those who have developed AIDS may sometimes feel themselves wronged and entitled to legal damages. There are two main areas of potential AIDS-related litigation: liability related to medical malpractice and liability related to transmission, whether via contaminated blood or blood products, needle-sharing, childbirth, or sexual intercourse.

This article will examine the precedents, arguments, and possible defenses in these areas and in relationship to a variety of potential defendants.

A cause of action for medical malpractice in AIDS-related diagnosis may arise in several ways: failure to diagnose, failure to inform a patient of a diagnosis, failure to provide proper counseling and treatment when patients test positive for HIV antibodies, and failure to report AIDS diagnoses to health authorities or at-risk sexual partners.

Type
Article
Information
Law, Medicine and Healthcare , Volume 15 , Issue 1-2 , Summer 1987 , pp. 36 - 45
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 1987

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