Diaspora News of Tuesday, 10 June 2003

Source: ABCNews

Court awards woman $700,000 in HIV case

Sydney, Australia -- A Sydney woman has been awarded more than $720,000 by the Supreme Court in Sydney after successfully suing two doctors for not ensuring that she was aware that her husband was HIV positive.

The woman known as PD took the doctors to court claiming they were negligent and failed in their duty of care.

The court agreed, finding doctors Nicholas Harvey and King Weng Chen should not have assumed that PD would become aware of her partner's condition.

The 28-year-old woman and her husband from Ghana were tested for HIV in November 1998 prior to getting married and having unprotected sex.

Her tests were negative but his were positive.

However he failed to inform his wife of the results and she has since contracted the disease.