The newspaper tells the story; an HIV positive man, an HIV negative sexual partner, and HIV transmission occurs. The problem with this occurrence of HIV transmission is the HIV negative partner had no idea her sexual partner was infected with HIV. The infected lover neglected to disclose his HIV positive status. The newspaper story goes on; detailing the court trial that followed; the HIV positive partner has been arrested and is being prosecuted for HIV transmission; infecting a partner without disclosing his positive status.
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I guess I think it should be considered a crime. It would be particularly fair if the HIV positive person had to pay financial penalties for infecting their partner without notification.
I thought it already was a crime everywhere. Either way, I think it should be a crime if 1) the positive person knew and didn’t say and/or 2) the positive person didn’t know and engaged in high risk activities and was not getting tested. If the positive person didn’t know and had no reasonable cause to worry or suspect I’d say that would be a fair defense in court to negate the criminality.
Not disclosing one’s HIV status should be a felony under Federal Law as Attempted Murder through Sexual Assault by Non-Disclosure– if the victim hasn’t contracted the disease.
If the victim did become infected, up the charge to Attempted Murder through Sexual Battery by Non-Disclosure, and make the perpetrator liable for damages including medical expenses, treatment for opportunistic infections, loss of income, and loss of familial affection as applicable and ongoing.
If the victim dies later, up the convicted felon’s sentence for that of First Degree Murder.
The rest will sort itself out.
~the irasKible morph
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Having unprotected sex while aware of ones serostatus is criminal;an equivalent of murder.But when the infection occurs without ones knowledge of the disease, both may be to belame since they never bothered to test themselves before getting into the affare!
I am HIV poz and still think it should be considered a crime. One should be responsible enough to disclose his or her status when engaging in any kind of sexual activity. For someone to knowingly spread the disease is criminal at best. Prosecute them!
Who is to say that the “negative” person was infected with HIV by the poz person? When did the neg person last get tested? They may have been infected for a long time and just didnt know it.
I dont like all this talk abaout prosecuting (persecuting?) people who dont disclose. Isnt it the absolute responsibility of the negative person to politely inquire what the status of the other person is before they engage in unsafe sex practices? And then afterward they cry foul because it was the sole responsibility of the poz person to tell them about their status? I dont think so. Responsibility is a two way street.
Morally it is definitely a crime to infect someone by deceit.
Legally it is not so simple. The newly infected partner had the free choice to use protection but didn’t. Moreover, why further punish someone who is already HIV positive?
Chris
HIV+ should be held accountable for their actions. Failing to disclose your status to a sexual partner is murder. They are consenting to SEX, NOT DEATH. Sure, you should assume that everyone is HIV+ and act accordingly. However, the HIV+ person in my opinion has a moral obligation to disclose their status, and in some states, LEGAL OBLIGATION to disclose. My EX (now deceased) totally lied about his status back 22 years ago. He infected myself and no less than 8 others that law enforcement knows about. Does anyone have the right to kill another human, with a gun? Then why should it be OK to kill someone with HIV. The end result is the same, you die. But to make someone knowingly suffer from HIV is cruel and unusual punishment in my opinion. By the way, Jeffrey Hanlon was proscuted and plead guilty to KNOWINGLY infecting another person (not me) in Michigan and was sentanced to 5 years probation, no jail time. So, the laws DON’T protect you from HIV, only YOU can do that! Patrick
If you know you have HIV and you infect someone knowingly the charge should be murder. Please protect yourselves its a lot of crazy people out here that don’t care what they do to you.
HIV transmission on the kind of incident discribed should not be accetable. the man should have told his status before involving sexually with his partner. among other reasons, it is evident that the person was a self-centered arrogant that did not care about the life of the woman at all. his irresponsible behaviour has resulted in a new incidence of HIV. more than 25 million deaths so far…more than 35 million people living with the virus in our world, what will it take for people to be careful? yes, i mean ev en the woman!it is a sad story here in africa, that many are innocently given the virus from the person that they trusted to marry. well what can you do? even if u prosecute this guy there will still be million others that you cant prosecute, nonetheless it is important for the law to recognize such acts as punishable for reasons of endangering others lives for the benefit (not to mention a few min or less)of an individual who by the way did not give enaugh value to his life to begin with.
Yes if one infects others with the Virus yet they know or suspect that they are HIV positive it should be treated as murder period. The infecter should rot in jail.
I agree w/the consensis, having unprotected sex or even sharing needles w/someone without disclosing our HIV status should be considered (at least) attempted murder…I believe the man that I got HIV from knew he was positive & what is worse, I saw him in a clinic about a year later (after I had personally told him that he infected me) & he was with a girl who had just had his baby & he told her he did not know he was infected…now teach young people that they gotta protect themselves because not everyone has heart enough to protect you!
I am HIV+ and my boyfriend is not. We have not had sex yet but are contemplating it. I have fully disclosed my status. We are both proactively informed and will use all possible precaution. Would I be liable if he becomes infected despite our mutual efforts?
I feel it should be consider as criminal Act, there are PPL, they don’t want to disclose their HIV status and simply they spoil other’s life too. And also I feel some ppl think that if my life has spoil with HIV why not others life too.