AEGiS-AP: Report: Malaysian court orders government to pay damages to boy infected with HIV

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Report: Malaysian court orders government to pay damages to boy infected with HIV

Associated Press - Friday November 8, 2002

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - A Malaysian court on Friday ordered the government to pay 500,000 ringgit (US$131,578) to an 8-year-old boy who contracted HIV from his mother after she became infected during a blood transfusion.

The mother received the transfusion at a public hospital in Raub, about 120 kilometers (70 miles) east of Kuala Lumpur.

High Court Registrar Mohamad Sabri Ismail decided on the amount after a judge ruled last year that the government was responsible for giving the boy's mother infected blood, The Star newspaper reported in its Internet edition.

The award was short of the 15 million ringgit (US$3.9 million) the boy's father was seeking in damages, The Star reported.

The names of the family weren't released.

The mother received the transfusion shortly after giving birth to the boy in 1994. She died five years later from an AIDS-related illness. The boy later tested positive for HIV. The court heard had he contracted the virus that causes AIDS from breast milk.

The Star cited the boy's father as saying the money would be used to pay for medical treatment.

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