'It felt like a death sentence'

Lycanthrope

Lycanthrope

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A 52-year old mother whose life was changed forever when she contracted HIV from a pedestrian she had hit on the N3 near Mooi River Toll Plaza in August 2000, has won her case against the KwaZulu-Natal Health Department.

In his ruling, Judge Shimon Patel said the paramedic had failed to ensure that no contamination occurred in handling the dead pedestrian and the woman.

The paramedic should have known that with the high incidence of HIV and two people with open bleeding wounds there was a risk of cross-contamination of blood. He should have taken all precautions.

The Gauteng woman sued the department for R2.1 million in the Pietermaritzburg High Court.

She had alleging that paramedics from the provincial ambulance service had been negligent, causing her to contract HIV from the pedestrian killed in the accident.

In his ruling, Judge Shimon Patel said the paramedic had failed to ensure that no contamination occurred in handling the dead pedestrian and the woman.

The paramedic should have known that with the high incidence of HIV and two people with open bleeding wounds there was a risk of cross-contamination of blood. He should have taken all precautions.

When giving her evidence in court, the woman said that she felt that her HIV status was a death sentence and that she felt "dirty".

With tears flowing, she told the court that when she got the news it "felt like a death sentence".

The woman had said she had known the only place she could have contracted HIV was at the scene of the accident. "I never for a minute believed I could have got it any other way."

She had told the court the revelation had caused her marriage to break down. She and her husband, who has continued to test HIV-negative, are now divorced.
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Source: IOL News

Firstly, my sympathy to the woman for all she's gone through and my congratulations for winning her lawsuit against the KZN Health Department. How paramedics (emergency personnel) can be so careless is beyond me...

Secondly, what kind of husband abandons his wife just because she has HIV? It's more than a little selfish. I suppose there might be more to it than that, but the idea that someone would not stand by their partner (in sickness and in health) even if they're a bit emotionally volatile and perhaps a bit more difficult to get along with than usual from the whole ordeal is just pathetic.

I feel incredibly sorry for this woman. If I ever had to get HIV I'd probably off myself. I don't want a life like that, but if my partner had to get infected by the negligence of a paramedic or something similar, I would completely support them and try my best to help them cope with it.
 
I feel sorry for her too.I also feel sorry for the person she hit.
Her husband is an a$$ for leaving her but alot of people are very close minded when it comes to living with hiv.
 
theratman said:
I feel sorry for her too.I also feel sorry for the person she hit.
Her husband is an a$$ for leaving her but alot of people are very close minded when it comes to living with hiv.
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*nod* I would've liked to know more about the circumstances involving her accident with the pedestrian since it seems they were both injured. Stoopid news articles never say enough :D
 
Lycanthrope said:
*nod* I would've liked to know more about the circumstances involving her accident with the pedestrian since it seems they were both injured. Stoopid news articles never say enough :D
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Probably went through the windshield, I've seen an accident where the front passenger was killed by the pedestrian who went through the windshield.
 
Lycanthrope said:
Source: IOL News

If I ever had to get HIV I'd probably off myself. I don't want a life like that, but if my partner had to get infected by the negligence of a paramedic or something similar, I would completely support them and try my best to help them cope with it.
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Killing yourself won't help. Surely if you can support your partner, you can trust them to support you too.
 
hmmm, it wont be long before TAC jump on this story and nail the woman for the following, When giving her evidence in court, the woman said that she felt that her HIV status was a death sentence and that she felt "dirty".

With tears flowing, she told the court that when she got the news it "felt like a death sentence".

All these AIDS activist say is "it is not a death sentence" yadda yadda yadda.
 
Fudzy said:
Probably went through the windshield, I've seen an accident where the front passenger was killed by the pedestrian who went through the windshield.
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Jeeeez :eek:

theratman said:
I wonder how the parmedics transfered the virus though.
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I suspect it was from not changing gloves between patients.

Ninja'd said:
Killing yourself won't help. Surely if you can support your partner, you can trust them to support you too.
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I see it as a bit different... But I don't know what will happen if I ever find myself in that situation. It would depend on my partner and I both. However, if I were single at that point in time and had no dependents or otherwise, there'd be nothing to stop me :p It's not a thought I even want to entertain, really.
 
Ninja'd said:
Killing yourself won't help. Surely if you can support your partner, you can trust them to support you too.
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+1

Also, HIV is a lot different than full blown AIDS, from what I've heard cancer is more of a death sentence these days than HIV if it's managed properly.
 
Pity her injuries weren’t serious enough for her to say "Thank you for helping me" I am still alive.

Damn if i was a medic, and the general public's attitude is ungrateful while I’m trying to help both of you, then die.
I'd end up not wanting to help anyone. you are always liable and with a sh**y pay check.

Hopefully next time she does a better job on herself.
 
YeaNutz said:
Pity her injuries weren’t serious enough for her to say "Thank you for helping me" I am still alive.

Damn if i was a medic, and the general public's attitude is ungrateful while I’m trying to help both of you, then die.
I'd end up not wanting to help anyone. you are always liable and with a sh**y pay check.

Hopefully next time she does a better job on herself.
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Right... "Thanks for saving my life and giving me an incurable disease".

She's not ungrateful. If you want gratitude, you have to not just do your job, you have to do it right.
 
No one really knows the details, for all we know the pedestrian could've smashed into the woman through the windshield, there wouldn't really be much the paramedics could've done to prevent blood mixing in that situation. I wonder why she wasn't given a course of ARVs as a precaution?
 
CathJ said:
Right... "Thanks for saving my life and giving me an incurable disease".

She's not ungrateful. If you want gratitude, you have to not just do your job, you have to do it right.
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How do you know the job was not done right?

Maybe there was no of stopping the 2 bloods from mixing? I mean the article does not really specify the details but i am fairly sure paramedics do not drag bodies over other bodies and that type of thing.
 
At the outset let me state that I have all the sympathy in the world for the woman and can't imagine how she must feel.


My question, and I am in no way doubting the findings of the legal system, is how do they prove that it was the paramedic who transferred the virus to the woman?


There has to be a measure of doubt, surely? Could she not have contracted the HIV somewhere or somehow else?
Is there a medical procedure to determine exactly where and how the virus was contracted?


If if it only a question of this being the most likely occurrence that she could have contracted HIV, I feel that the KZN Health Dept. have been dealt with a bit harshly.


.
 
Department liable for woman's HIV infection

A Bedfordview, Johannesburg woman was infected with HIV by a KwaZulu-Natal health department paramedic who attended to her, the Pietermaritzburg High Court said.

The paramedic attended to the woman after he "worked on" a pedestrian who died when the woman's car crashed.

The accident occurred near the Mooi River toll plaza on 31 August 2000.

After the accident she was taken to the Pietermaritzburg Mediclinic with a head injury. She was discharged four days later. Three Johannesburg doctors and two specialists estimated that she became infected about the time of the collision.

Judge Shimon Patel said the health department paramedic had failed to perform the treatment of the woman with the degree of skill and care of a reasonable paramedical professional.

He failed to ensure that no contamination occurred in handling the dead pedestrian and the woman.

The paramedic should have known that with the high incidence of HIV and with two people with open bleeding wounds he should have foreseen the risk of cross-contamination of blood. He should have taken all precautions to avoid such contamination.

Patel ordered that the health department be held liable for any damage the woman may be found to have suffered as a result of her contamination with the HIV virus.

This case concerned only liability and not damage amounts.
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Source: TimesLIVE

The articles are all very vague about the circumstances and what exactly happened, but it seems clear that the paramedic was at fault for not following correct procedures. While I have nothing to back this up and have little clue on how paramedics do their jobs, it seems that the paramedic was negligent (didn't change gloves between patients or something similar).
 
He failed to ensure that no contamination occurred in handling the dead pedestrian and the woman.
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Lycanthrope, I appreciate your lack of knowledge regarding the circumstances, but ask whether you think that a system that can find a party guilty because they "failed to ensure that no contamination occurred" is ethical? (or legally correct)

Surely proof of contamination, or a least negligent "intent" should be required in order to find someone guilty?

As stated above, I have no knowledge of the way in which the origin of HIV can be determined, and as such am open to correction.


.
 
MrMikey said:
Lycanthrope, I appreciate your lack of knowledge regarding the circumstances, but ask whether you think that a system that can find a party guilty because they "failed to ensure that no contamination occurred" is ethical? (or legally correct)

Surely proof of contamination, or a least negligent "intent" should be required in order to find someone guilty?

As stated above, I have no knowledge of the way in which the origin of HIV can be determined, and as such am open to correction.


.
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You and I are in the same boat -- we don't know what proof (or lack thereof) the court had at its disposal, only speculation. In good faith, one assumes the court's decision would've relied on facts.

Unfortunately all the articles I've found are, as I said, vague at best and copy-paste jobs at worst :)

I only mention that the paramedic seems to have been at fault because he's the one person the journalists repeatedly make the scapegoat.
 
Lycanthrope said:
You and I are in the same boat -- we don't know what proof (or lack thereof) the court had at its disposal, only speculation. In good faith, one assumes the court's decision would've relied on facts.
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Which leads me to another thought. When a person is convicted of "murder" or " attempted murder" for deliberately infecting someone, how do the courts determine that the individual concerned is, in fact, the person who "passed" on the disease?

Once again, my medical knowledge in this area is very limited and I am open to any information reinforcing the decision made by the courts.


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