NCJ Number
125880
Journal
New England Law Review Volume: 23 Issue: 3-4 Dated: (Winter-Spring 1988-1989) Pages: 887-917
Date Published
1989
Length
31 pages
Annotation
This note proposes that courts should impose liability for the tortious interspousal transmission of or exposure to AIDS.
Abstract
When a spouse, despite ubiquitous information on AIDS, participates in high-risk activity, he breaches the marital obligations of trust and confidence. Although the right to privacy is an interest that must be guarded, the State's interest in preventing the interspousal transmission of AIDS warrants judicial intervention on behalf of the wronged party. Such intervention should occur, under fraud and battery, when the defendant infects his spouse by engaging in sexual intercourse when he knew or should have known with substantial certainty that he was infected. The most viable cause of action is negligence. The plaintiff can recover if she contracts the AIDS virus because the defendant created an unreasonable risk of injury to her. An action for the intentional infliction of emotional distress could be pursued by the wife even if the virus was not transmitted through high-risk interspousal sexual activity. 236 footnotes