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58 U. Colo. L. Rev. 63 (1986-1988)
AIDS: Malpractice and Transmission Liability

handle is hein.journals/ucollr58 and id is 79 raw text is: AIDS: MALPRACTICE AND TRANSMISSION LIABILITY DONALD H.J. HERMANN* I. INTRODUCTION Before the discovery of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV),' the incubation period for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syn- drome (AIDS) was estimated at approximately fifteen to eighteen months; more recently, estimates of the incubation period have been extended up to five years or more.2 Like the individual exposed to the AIDS virus who must live with the possibility of developing AIDS for an extended but indefinite period of time, the legal system must antici- pate the generation of a plethora of law suits over the next decade, the bases for which have already been established as a result of the trans- mission of the AIDS virus. Torts is one of the principal areas of litiga- tion which will involve AIDS. II. DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT AND MALPRACTICE AIDS is an impairment of the human body's natural immune sys- tem of defense against disease that renders a person vulnerable to in- fections and various illnesses. The damage to the immune system results primarily from the destruction of certain crucial white blood cells - known as T lymphocytes - as a consequence of the infection with HIV.3 AIDS is an acquired condition rather than an inherited one, and it is a syndrome in that it is constituted by a number of symp- toms and conditions which characterize the disorder. Persons with * Professor of Law and Philosophy, Director of the Health Law Institute, DePaul University. A.B., Stanford University, 1965; J.D., Columbia University, 1968; LL.M., Harvard University, 1974; *M.A., Northwestern University, 1979; Ph.D., Northwestern University, 1981. Professor Hermann served as program coordinator for the national conference, AIDS: Legal, Medical, and Social Dimen- sions of a Health Crisis held in Chicago on April 11-12, 1986. 1. The virus which has been identified as causing damage to the immune system, and thus AIDS, has been named differently by various researchers. There is a growing consensus to identify the virus by the name human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV. It is also known as human T-cell lymphotropic virus type III (HTLV-III), lymphadenopathy-associated virus (LAV), and AIDS-associated retrovirus (ARV). See INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE, NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, CONFRONTING AIDS: DIRECTIONS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH, HEALTH CARE, AND RESEARCH 5-6 (1986). 2. AIDS: ETIOLOGY, DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT AND PREVENTION 22 (V. DeVita, S. Hellman & S. Rosenberg eds. 1985). 3. See Allen & Curran, Epidemiology of the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, in ACQUIRED IMMUNODEFICIENCY SYNDROME (AIDS) 4 (J. Gallin & A. Fauci eds. 1985).