Man, wrongly tagged HIV carrier, sues watchdog

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-04-16 17:18

XI'AN -- A man in northwest China's Shaanxi Province has taken three health authorities to court for wrongly diagnosing him as a HIV carrier, court authorities confirmed Thursday.

Feng Zhanqiang, 33, is demanding 140,000 yuan (US$20,000) in compensation, said a spokesman with the Beilin District Court in Xi'an, the provincial capital.

The defendants included the Shaanxi Provincial Disease Prevention and Control Center (DPCC), and the local DPCCs in Xi'an and Yanta District of Xi'an, he said.

A blood test in June 2006 indicated Feng was HIV positive. Feng, a native of Xi'an, was then under an education through labor program on a farm, as punishment for theft and using drugs.

The test was conducted by the disease prevention and control center in Yanta District and verified by DPCCs at the city and provincial levels, he said.

"Two months after my release, health workers from the center came to my house and told my family I was infected with AIDS," he said at Wednesday's court hearing.

The family was shocked. "My mother-in-law knelt down and begged me to leave my wife. Soon, all the villagers believed I was suffering AIDS and fled whenever I was at sight."

Feng said he lived in constant fear and misery for two years, until another test declared he was HIV-negative.

In August 2008, Feng was knocked down by a truck and suffered a fracture in the right leg. "I told the surgeons I was a HIV carrier, which shocked them. They tested my blood and told me I was HIV negative."

After he recovered, Feng took another blood test in December. The result was again negative.

All the three reports bore the official stamp of the Provincial Disease Prevention and Control Center, a sign that it had verified the results.

The center, in written response to Feng's protest in February, said his blood sample was probably contaminated in the 2006 test. "On behalf of the disease prevention and control centers at provincial, city and district levels, we apologize to Mr. Feng for the mistake."

Feng said in court Wednesday he demanded an explanation.

Court officials said their verdict would be announced at a later date.