Indiana Man Wins $1.25 Million from Medical Provider

by Todd A. Heywood · 2010-07-06 06:28:00 UTC
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IndianaAn unidentified Indiana man has won a $1.25 million verdict in a lawsuit against his former medical providers. The cause of the lawsuit? The medical provider disclosed his HIV-positive status to a billing collection attorney, who in turn released that information to collection agencies. Those companies put that information in collection lawsuits, thus outing the man.

The company, Internal Medicine Associates (IMA), wanted the man to pay a $326 bill.

According to Bilerico, the man testified in court that IMA attorneys and collection agents told more people about his HIV status than he had. The attorneys for IMA on the other hand attempted to force the man to disclose all his sex partners, arguing they needed to know how many people he disclosed to before having sex. The attorneys also argued that because he had disclosed to at least one person who was neither a sex partner nor immediate family, the company had no obligation to pay for disclosing his status in court filings.

Now here's the kicker.

While Bil Browning has done a fantastic job laying out the issue over at Bilerico, the Bloomington area news outlet The Times Mail starts its story by writing in the lede, "A Monroe County jury Thursday afternoon issued a $1.25 million judgment against Internal Medicine Associates Inc. for inadvertently disclosing in a collection action that a patient ..." The rest of the news outlet's story is behind a subscription wall, and I for one am not giving money to a company that clearly doesn't get it.

Disclosing an HIV status, in a court filing, is anything but "inadvertent." Someone felt that was a great way to pressure the man into paying. Most of us call that blackmail, not inadvertent.

Photo credit: KE4SFQ

Todd A. Heywood is an investigative reporter based in Lansing, Michigan. He works for the American Independent News Network. He is HIV-positive and openly gay.
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