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‘They should have told me’
By CARY DAVIS
© St. Petersburg Times, In 1993, John Truitt overdosed on heroin and cocaine. Doctors at Tampa General Hospital treated Truitt and, because he was an intravenous drug user, offered him an HIV test. But Truitt never asked about the test results. "I assumed," he said this week, "they would tell me if there was something wrong." In fact, the law puts the onus on medical facilities to tell people the results of an HIV test. Meanwhile, Truitt went on with his life, which, as it turned out, was far from exemplary. Weeks after leaving the hospital, he was arrested in connection with a robbery in Tampa and sent to prison. There, as is standard procedure, he was again offered an HIV test. But, secure in his belief that he was healthy, Truitt refused it. During the next four years he was transferred from one prison to the next, each time turning down another opportunity to take an HIV test. Gradually, though, Truitt's health declined. Breathing became difficult, and doctors diagnosed him with emphysema. When the medication didn't help, Truitt consented in 1997 to a second HIV test. The results were devastating: Truitt had full-blown AIDS, which meant HIV had been eating away at his immune system for years. Truitt was baffled, and when he got out of prison nine months later, he went back to Tampa General to look up his test record. Positive. "I couldn't believe (Tampa General) would do something like that," said Truitt, 46, of Port Richey. "They should have told me. I believe I would be a lot healthier today if they had done what they were supposed to. I don't think I would have full-blown AIDS." Truitt's biggest fear was that he had unknowingly spread the virus to his wife and daughter, who is now 11. When tests showed they were not infected with HIV, a relieved Truitt focused his diminishing energy on two things: saving himself, and seeking justice for what he says Tampa General did to him. So far, he's winning the battle he thought he might lose. But he's losing the fight he was sure he would win. Through aggressive drug therapy, Truitt's immune system is showing signs of getting stronger. His fight for justice, meanwhile, is on life support. * * * When Truitt filed suit against Tampa General last year, he assumed he had a strong case. After all, the law is clear: Medical providers, when ordering an HIV test, must schedule an appointment to inform the patient of the results and provide counseling. But in January, Hillsborough Circuit Judge Robert Bonnano threw out the case, ruling that the statute of limitations had expired because Truitt waited more than four years from the date of the test to file his lawsuit. Truitt's lawyers are appealing the judge's ruling on the grounds that the law governing the statute of limitations in Florida negligence cases is inconsistent with the duty of hospitals to inform patients about the results of HIV tests. In other words, Truitt's lawyers argue, Tampa General should not be able to get out of a lawsuit because of its own mistake. It's not Truitt's fault, they say, that Tampa General failed to tell him he was HIV positive. "If the diagnosis is there, and it's not relayed to the patient, that's totally wrong," said Larry Crow, a Republican state representative from Tarpon Springs whose law firm represents Truitt. "That's what's so galling about this case." Tampa General spokesman John Dunn said the hospital did nothing wrong. "At the time, the hospital complied with all existing laws and we're prepared to prove it in court if necessary," Dunn said. Asked if Truitt's claims that he was never contacted about the results of his test were accurate, Dunn refused to comment, saying he couldn't talk about the specifics of a pending case. Crow's law partner, Jerry Theophilopoulos, took issue with Dunn's statement. The law, Theophilopoulos said, is the same today as it was in 1993. "Obviously they didn't comply (with the law)," Theophilopoulos said. "Otherwise, Mr. Truitt would have been notified of his condition and he would have been treated immediately." Asked if the hospital had any regrets about its treatment of Truitt, Dunn said, "We treated him for what he came in here for." Truitt's attorneys submitted a brief last week to the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Lakeland, arguing that the statute of limitations should be extended so the case can proceed to trial. Arguments before the appellate court have not been scheduled. Truitt's attorneys have been digging through all the previous appellate court opinions on the issue of HIV testing and the statute of limitations, and they say this case is the first of its kind in Florida. * * * Truitt acknowledges that he shares some of the blame for what happened: He could have asked about his test results. He was brought to Tampa General on Nov. 8, 1993, and the HIV test was conducted the next day, although, according to his lawsuit, nobody made an appointment to go over the results with him. The lab ran three tests on his blood, each one confirming Truitt's HIV-positive status. The results of the test, according to a copy of Truitt's medical records that he gave the St. Petersburg Times, were available within 24 hours. Truitt spent another four days in the hospital, he said. He doesn't understand why nobody told him about the test results when it would have been so easy to find him. The doctor who treated Truitt at the hospital, Philip Altus, who teaches medicine at the University of South Florida, did not respond to a message requesting an interview. Why didn't Truitt ask somebody about his test? "I trusted them to tell me if something was wrong," he said. "When I didn't hear anything, I just assumed I was fine." Surprisingly, many people tested for HIV don't inquire about the results, said Becky Thomas, spokeswoman for the Pasco County Health Department. In fact, there was a time a few years ago when 50 percent of the people the agency tested for HIV through outreach programs didn't call to get their results, Thomas said. Even today, 10 percent of people tested in the outreach program don't bother to find out whether they are HIV-positive. But when somebody tests positive for the virus, the agency works diligently to make sure the person is notified, counseled and given medication. In the past four years, the health department has located every person with a positive test result, Thomas said. * * * Had Truitt learned he had HIV in 1993, his chances of survival would be greatly improved, said Dr. Bienvenido Yangco, director of the Infectious Disease Research Institute in Tampa. "He certainly would be healthier today," Yangco said. "The sooner people get therapy, the better off they are." When Truitt learned he had AIDS, prison doctors immediately started him on the powerful three-drug cocktail that has given new hope to a generation of HIV patients since its introduction in the mid 1990s. The drugs, which he takes three times a day, have worked, strengthening his immune system, he said, to the point where he probably could survive an onset of pneumonia or some other potentially-deadly disease. "I'd like to lead a productive life," he said. "There are plenty of people in my situation who are doing well." But Truitt knows his condition could change suddenly for the worse. Sometimes, he said, he wonders if he'll live to see his lawsuit through to the end. The lawsuit, though, is not just about him, Truitt said. "I don't know what's going to happen to me," he said. "But I want to make sure the same thing doesn't happen to anyone else." - Cary Davis covers courts in west Pasco County. He can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6236 or (800) 333-7505, ext. 6236.
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