HIV and AIDS

We recently had a case where, over a decade ago, a man was unconscious for unknown reasons and subsequently admitted to the hospital. Upon admission, the hospital staff was unable to determine what was wrong with him so they conducted a serious of tests, including an HIV test. The hospital discharged him after only a few days and was unable to positively conclude what caused his unconscious state. Just days after his discharge, the hospital became aware that the patient's HIV test came back positive.

Unfortunately, two months after his discharge, he became intimate with a soon to be long-time girlfriend. The hospital failed to ever inform him that he had tested positive for HIV. The couple then lived together for the next eight (8) years. During that time, they also had a child together. For the next eight years, the hospital was silent and the patient never discovered he was HIV positive, quickly progressing towards AIDS.

In 2002, the couple discovered that they were both infected with the AIDS virus. This was attributed to the hospital's failure to ever warn of the positive HIV test result at anytime after discharge. Fortunately, their daughter has not contracted the HIV virus.

The original patient’s case went to a trial before a jury in 2005. After only a few days of testimony, our office was able to settle the case for a large sum of compensation. The issue of the Defendants’ liability and care they owed to the infected girlfriend is still on appeal before the Appellate Court. This information will be updated as we receive rulings from the Court.

If you have been a victim of a delay in diagnosis of HIV or AIDS please contact our office immediately at 1-877-529-9969.

Use the form below to contact us regarding HIV and/or AIDS.

From FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program
The FDA issued an Early Communication about recent findings of The Data Collection on Adverse Events of Anti-HIV Drugs Study. Data analyses from this study indicate a higher risk of heart attack in patients infected with HIV-1 who were taking Ziagen (abacavir) or Videx(didanosine) as part of their drug therapy. Read more...

Patients Receive HIV-Infected Transplants
Four transplant recipients in Chicago contracted HIV from a high-risk donor whose infection went undetected, hospital officials said. Read more...

HIV-positive, but few viruses
Twenty years ago, as the growing AIDS epidemic was sweeping the world, Rod Fichter and a friend got devastating news: They were both HIV-positive. At the time, more than 16,000 Americans a year were dying of AIDS, and no drugs to treat it had been approved. "I really thought it was a death sentence," Fichter said. In fact, in a few years his friend was dead. Read more...