[A] jury in Iowa awarded $1.5 million to young woman after she claimed that her boyfriend, a dentist, had infected her with HPV even though her lawyer agrees that it is “virtually impossible” to definitively prove it.
Given that, denying you have had an STD, or even that you have one now, is a minefield, says Jeff Tronvold, the Cedar Rapids attorney who represented the young woman in Iowa.
“If 75 percent of people are exposed to HPV, then everybody should know they had it at one point,” he says. If you deny it to a partner, “you have already met, in my opinion, the civil burden [of proof] because you just lied. You should say, ‘I have no signs, but I cannot tell you I never had it.’ This could change the way we all date.” ...
$1.5 million awarded in HPV lawsuit
By Trish Mehaffey
The Gazette
Jeff Tronvold, Cedar Rapids attorney, said a Muscatine County jury sent a strong message last week when it awarded $1.5 million to a 25-year-old woman in her lawsuit against a man who infected her with the human papillomavirus or HPV.
It's the first case like this that has made it to court in Iowa and one of a small percentage in the United States, Tronvold said. Most of the HPV-related cases in the courts and in the news concern the side effects of the vaccination Gardasil.
This genital virus is the most common sexually transmitted infection which attacks the skin and mucous membranes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There are more than 40 types of the virus that infect the genital areas of men and women.
About 20 million Americans are infected with HPV and another 6.2 million become infected each year, according to the center's Web site. Most people don't realize they have it because their immune system fights it off.
Karly Rossiter, 23, at the time of infection in 2005, didn't know she had it and didn't know anything about HPV. "It was before the Gardasil commercials, which didn't come out until, I think, 2006," Tronvold said Wednesday.
Rossiter met Alan Evans, a Muscatine dentist, in December 2004. He told her he was free of any sexually transmitted diseases before they started dating. A few days later after having sex with him on Jan. 1, 2005, Evans asked her if she had been tested for HPV.
Rossiter went to her doctor for information and was told there is no general test for HPV and it wasn't necessary since her recent Pap test came back normal, Tronvold said.
The only test on the market is used as part of a cervical cancer screening, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Tronvold said Rossiter was concerned because of what Evans had asked, so she demanded the test and because her insurance wouldn't cover it, she paid it out of her own pocket.
In April 2005 she learned she could potentially have HPV and she started developing symptoms of the virus, genital warts, in January 2006, according to the lawsuit. An examination of the cervix showed severe dysplasia, abnormal cells on the surface of the cervix, which is a precursor to cancer.
She had a surgical procedure in March 2006, where lesions are cut off the cervix, Tronvold said. Rossiter had multiple cuts of varying tissue sizes. The skin is then cauterized to prevent infection.
Rossiter is symptom-free of the virus now but there's no guarantee that it won't come back and she will remain a carrier, Tronvold said. He believes that's why the jury awarded $700,000 for past and future physical and mental pain and suffering, and another $800,000 in punitive damages.
Tronvold said the statements Evans made to Rossiter that he was free of disease and then asked her after sex the specific question about HPV are what likely influenced the jury.
Tim Semelroth, a Cedar Rapids attorney who handles medical-related suits, said in this case Iowa's civil justice system worked. The jury believed Evans "willfully and wantonly disregarded" Rossiter's safety when he infected her.
Semelroth said the amount of the verdict is understandable because the jurors must decide fair compensation for a woman who will have viral outbreaks the rest of her life and live in fear of developing cervical cancer, and also determine the appropriate punishment for Evans, who betrayed her trust.
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