Imprisoned for not telling partner he was HIV Positive: Right or Wrong?

[Deven]

Imprisoned for not disclosing he was HIV positive

(CNN) -- The nightmare Nick Rhoades has been living the past four years began after a one-time sexual encounter with another Iowa man, Adam Plendl.
It was June 2008. The 34-year-old Rhoades, who is HIV positive, says he was on antiretroviral medications. His viral load -- the amount of virus in his blood -- at the time was undetectable and he says he wore a condom. But Plendl contacted the police because Rhoades did not disclose his HIV status.
What happened next, Rhoades says, changed his life forever.
The former hotel administrator was arrested three months later. The official charge: criminal transmission of HIV -- a class B felony in Iowa, where the encounter occurred. Other crimes in this category include manslaughter, kidnapping, drug crimes and robbery.
"I was in shock, trying to figure out where this was all going," Rhoades says. "My heart was racing a million miles an hour. I'd never been in trouble."
But Plendl, 22 at the time, says his life was forever changed as well, and that he was severely depressed and suffered panic attacks while waiting to find out if he was infected.
"It was 181 days of pure fear, that six-month window when you don't know," he says.
"Individuals that are HIV positive have a moral and currently legal obligation to inform any of their sexual partners of their positive status. Individuals should have the choice as to whether or not they would engage with someone who is HIV positive when they are not. In this case, that choice -- and what I also consider a right -- was not afforded to me."
In many countries, intentionally or recklessly infecting another person with HIV is a crime. In the United States, the Center for HIV Law and Policy says 32 states, including Iowa, and two territories -- Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands -- have such laws on their books.

I only quoted part of the article. Please read more if you'd like.


I almost put this in the GLBTQ section, but I think that this isn't an GLBTQ exclusive topic, even though the main article is about a gay man. Anyone can carry HIV/AIDS.

While I feel sorry that he's infected, I'm not sorry he had to register as a sex offender. He knew he was positive, and he didn't disclose that to his partner, leaving that man with no choice as to whether he wanted to take the chance that he could get infected. Now, the partner in question did not get HIV infected, his life was still changed.

Here is a sheet from avert.org, which is about averting the transmission of HIV/AIDS says:

2. Treatment adherence:
Anti-HIV therapy suppresses viral load in semen, but there is evidence that viral load is
not always suppressed in blood and semen with equal efficacy. Poor adherence to antiHIV therapy was associated with detectable HIV in semen in some studies.

I view this as a form of assault with a deadly weapon. While the victim wasn't killed, he was lucky to escape without a long term consequence.

 

[danbsc29630]

 

[penguin]