That is, a jury has ruled that a mother who was aware her son had AIDS should have told his fiancee; she didn't, and now she owes the ex $2 million (the son is dead). Personally, I think anyone with a deadly disease who would purposefully endanger someone else without their knowledge is guilty of attempted murder, at the very least. The question is, should the mother be civilly liable for not intervening?
In my opinion, no, although the mother certainly had a moral responsibility to warn her prospective daughter-in-law. If the son had been plotting to kill his fiancee with a gun and the mother found out, would she have been legally required to intervene? No. Laws vary from state to state, but with few exceptions people are not required to help others even in cases of imminent danger (sometimes called Good Samaritan Laws, although that term is also used for other purposes).
Further supporting my position in this particular instance is the fact that medical information is generally allowed the strictest possible confidentiality.
"It would have been a violation of Illinois law for these parents to tell this woman of their son's HIV status," said Ann Hilton Fisher, executive director of the AIDS Legal Counsel (search) of Chicago.It's an awful circumstance, but the criminal here is the dead man, not his mother.
Another fine example of this world's continued silly belief that we as a society can somehow "legislate" morality.
I don't know about you Michael, but as I (we) are bombarded daily with news like this, it just sometimes gets so irritating, seeing ruling after ruling- with no real solution.
It's a sad story (that you posted). It would have been good to see the mother say something. Then again, her son had the real responsibility here.
He made his choice (a poor one), and now the Mother must live to suffer not only the grief of his death, but the consequences of his actions.
The world is crying for peace and justice- so much so that they want to hang responsibility on anything that moves- it only underscores the depravity of mankind; which much of this godless world refuses to acknowledge.
Jim, I highly recommend a news break. Every once in a while, I forget that no news is good news, and today bad news knows no borders.
Too bad people can't make money selling good news:
"Today in the metro area, two neighbors peacefully resolved a dispute about their shared tree without brandishing weapons, name calling, or raising their voice!
Elsewhere, 350,000 people in Minneapolis went to bed with NO bodily harm."
Good news is often boring.
Yay for boring lives. :-)
Those who can, do. Those who can't, report!