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Wrongful HIV birth suit in Maine
by David Sharp
Associated Press Writer
(AP) — A superior court judge asked the
Maine supreme court to decide whether a North
Wateiboro woman and her 5-year-old son with
AIDS can sue the woman’s doctors for negligence.
Justice Paul Fritzsche said Tuesday, August
25, aftera hearing in Alfred, Maine, that the lawsuit
raises important issues that should be settled be
fore the case is allowed to proceed in York County
Superior Court.
The lawsuit, the first to seek damages under
Maine’s “wrongful birth/wrongful life statute,”
claims the boy would have been better off if he
hadn’t been bom.
“The legal question raises philosophical ques
tions,” said Jack Simmons, lawyer for the woman’s
obstetrician. “Is society going to say it was better
not to live, and therefore compensate you because
you breathed? That’s a horrifying thought.”
Barbara A. Anastosopoulos, a former prosti
tute and IV drug user, contends her doctors never
urged her to be tested for the vims that causes
AIDS. She says wouldn’t have had a baby if she
knew she was infected. Simmons and an attorney
for the woman’s primary care doctor want the
lawsuit to be dismissed. They contend that the
mother’s lifestyle — not the doctors’ conduct —
was the cause of the boy’s suffering.
After a hearing, Fritzsche allowed lawyers to
continue their discovery process while the su
preme court decides whether to interpret the
statute enacted the Legislature.
If the court decides to hear the case, argu
ments could be scheduled by October or Novem
ber at the earliest, according to Jim Schute, clerk for
the supreme court.
Named in the lawsuit are Dr. Charles Perakis
of Scarborough, the woman’s primary physician
from 1982 to 1987, and Dr. Albert Pollard, the
obstetrician she began seeing in 1986 after she
became pregnant. Both doctors knew of the
woman’s history, but neither recommended that
she be tested for HIV.
Simmons said the doctors didn’t know as
much about AIDS in the mid-1980s when the
woman contends she was infected while using IV
drugs and having sex with multiple partners.
“The knowledge of AIDS has evolved over
time, and you cannot use 1993 knowledge in 1987
and 1988,” he said.
John McArdle III, the lawyer for
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Anastosopoulos’ son Christopher, contends the
doctors should have tested the woman and dis
cussed the possibility that her baby could contract
the virus from her.
“She was a double red flag for high risk
factors,” McArdle said.
Mother and son tested positive for HIV, the
virus that causes AIDS, after the boy’s birth in
February 1988. Since then, the bqy has had health
problems includingearinfections, vomiting,breath
ing problems and hearing loss. *
Maine is one of the few states with a law that
allows limited claims in wrongful birth/wrongful
life lawsuits. In states without such laws, courts
have dismissed nearly all such spits.
“This is precedent-setting law,” McCardle
said. “It may move the judges into the realm of
some very philosophical questions of life and non
life.”
Schute said it’s rare for the state supreme
court to take cases that have not been heard by a
lower court. “It is unusual, but sometimes it makes
sense to do that,” he said.
The supreme court could dismiss the case. If
it allows the case to proceed, then the trial would
be heard in York County Superior Court, lawyers
said.
This precedent-setting AIDS lawsuit may be
headed for the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, but
perhaps not before a trip through the national talk
show circuit. Several television talk shows would
like to feature the dispute, in which Barbara
Anastosopoulos is suing doctors who she said
should have tested her for AIDS before she gave
birth to her son, who also has the disease.
Anastosopoulos’ ex-husband, Paul
Anastosopoulos, said he has agreed to appear on
the programs, although the programs may depend
on his ex-wife’s agreement to appear as well. Paul
Anastosopoulos said he has been quiet about the
case until the hearing, where a judge sent the case
directly to the state supreme court. But now he says
if*s time for his side of Christopher’s family to be
heard.
“It makes us sick to hear (Barbara) say he
shouldn’t have been bom,” Paul Anastosopoulos
said from his Springvale home. “1 really think she’s
(suing) for the money. And she’s using Christopher
as a pawn.”
Paul Anastosopoulos, now remarried, said
Barbara asked him to join in the lawsuit almost
three years ago but that he refused. “Ethically, I
couldn’t do it,” he said.
His wife, Monique, said, “If anything, (Chris
topher) is a gift from God. It would be one thing if
she was going for some sort of cause ... she’s not.
She wants money. It makes her look greedy.”
Both Paul and Monique say that if Barbara
believes Christopher is a burden to her, then they
would gladly take the boy. Paul Anastosopoulos
was granted no visitation rights in the divorce. He
said Barbara accused him of sexually abusing the
child, allegations he said were false.
The boy’s lawyer, John McArdle III, said
national talk shows had called his office but he had
advised Barbara Anastosopoulos not to talk to the
media. He said he had not spoken to his client since
early in the week and did not know if she was
following his advice.
“We’re not looking for media attention,"
McArdlesaid. “If we were we’d be accepting... (talk
show) invitations. 1 don’t think it would be in her
best interest.”▼
Couple charged
with kidnapping
HIV+ daughter
(AP) — Tammy Swinney, 28, and Ricky
Cheaves, 34, a Chicago couple arrested in Milwau
kee have been charged with kidnapping for remov
ing their 2-year-old HIV-positive daughter from a
shelter, police say. The girls were in protective
custody. Mroczkowski said Swinney grabbed 2-
year-old Rebecca Cheaves and ran out the door
with her while authorities stopped Cheaves from
running off with their 1-year-old daughter.
Rebecca was returned to DCFS custody and
was reported in good condition after a medical
examination, authorities said. The two young girls
were taken from their parents’ custody last spring
because the parents had allegedly failed to admin
ister prescription medicine the children were re
quired to lake. Swinney and Cheaves said the
medication made the children sick.
Mroczkowski said Swinney is HIV positive
and Cheaves has been tested for the virus that
causes AIDS, but hasn’t received his test results
back yet.V
Fall 1993