Miami Herald - Tuesday, July 28, 1998
Yves Colon, Herald Staff Writer

School officials turned that delicate situation into one that became "outrageous, atrocious and intolerable," the girl's lawyers contend, because they forced her to stand before classmates and confess that she was carrying the virus -- an apparent violation of privacy laws.

"Their actions emotionally tormented the child," said Robert Buschel, the family's principal lawyer. "All they did was damage the child, not protect anyone else. Kids don't exchange blood in class. Enough is known about the virus that everyone knows a casual contact cannot spread the virus."

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami's version of events will be considerably different, promised attorney Jim Gilbride, who has until Aug. 5 to respond to the Miami-Dade Circuit Court suit. "They have no basis for the suit whatsoever," he said, without offering further details.

Gilbride, who rejected the family's offer to settle, said he plans to challenge the legal standing because the girl's privacy wasn't violated.

"A lot of consideration went into how to treat this situation," he said.

The Rev. Jack Lau, the pastor of St. Francis Church, which operates the school in Overtown near downtown Miami, said he has been working with people with AIDS for the past 12 years, and is familiar with the ethical considerations associated with the virus.

"There would be no reason to coerce students to do anything of that nature," said Lau, 40, who has been the school's pastor for the past two years. "It's a personal matter. They need to speak about it in their own time frame and of their own willingness. We did not coerce students to do anything of the sort.

"This is a girl the archdiocese has helped tremendously. I don't understand any of this."

Students on scholarship

At St. Francis Xavier, two-thirds of the students are on scholarship. Several years ago, Miamians sent in $254,000 to keep the school open and provide scholarships for the children.

The girl's lawyers have gathered sworn statements from classmates, social workers and others in hopes of showing the school and the archdiocese not only violated the girl's privacy, but failed to properly supervise Lau and Principal Michelle Dolyk.

The most damaging evidence may come from a social worker who swore that school officials talked among themselves about the girl's medical status despite several warnings. The first mistake, the social worker said, was committed sometime in February after the girl received test results showing that she was carrying the AIDS virus. Her mother had died of complications from AIDS Related Complex.

The girl, the social worker said, had been treated for depression in a mental institution and was in a fragile psychological state. School officials were aware of her condition, she said.

Girl learned test results

The girl went to a prayer group the day she learned of her test results. Lau, along with a school secretary, was there, the social worker said.

"She came out crying and told them that she was going to die, that she was HIV positive," the social worker said.

She said Lau then told Dolyk about the test results -- in violation of state law, the suit claims.

At a later meeting, the social worker said Dolyk told her she was going to tell her teachers "so they'd be aware."

"I was hysterical," the social worker said. "I didn't think she should tell the teachers because you should have professionals do that, not people that don't know what they're talking about."

Meeting with teachers

At a later meeting that Dolyk called with the teachers, where they were scheduled to discuss AIDS in general terms, the social worker said she again warned the principal that the girl's HIV status was a confidential matter and "that you cannot tell anybody and you can certainly cannot tell your teachers."

After two months, the girl's mental condition deteriorated, Buschel said, prompting her to write the suicide note. A boy found it, read it then passed it on to a girl, who gave it to the teacher. Buschel alleged that Dolyk and Lau spent the weekend talking about what to do.

The 14-year-old classmate, who passed the note along, recalled that when the girl told the class that she was HIV positive that Lau, Dolyk and the teacher were in the room. She said Lau "kind of" encouraged the girl.

Dolyk, according to the sworn statement, "told her that if she didn't tell, she would tell it."

The principal was away at a retreat and could not be reached for comment.

On the schoolday in question, the girl was angry and in tears, the classmate said. She looked down at the floor the whole time, the 14-year-old said.

The next day, one boy treated her differently, according to the classmate:

"Like he didn't want to sit near her, he didn't want to talk to her, he didn't want to touch her."

The girl, her lawyers say, had to drop out of school to avoid her classmates' ridicule. She's being schooled at home and hopes to enter another Catholic private school in the fall. An aunt, the girl's legal guardian since her mother died, is seeking unspecified damages. Neither the aunt, the girl nor the social worker were identified in the lawsuit, which was filed July 16.

Allen R. Grossman, Assistant Florida Attorney General and attorney for Florida's Board of Medicine, said he was amazed by the allegations.

If true, Grossman said, "For anyone to believe that the way to deal with this is to put it out on the table for everyone to know -- that's just not the way society deals with these issues anymore."

Lau insisted that the sense of confidentiality and dignity of people with AIDS is "utmost in my regard. The [principal's] attitude would be the same as mine in divulging something so personal. There would be no collusion between me and the [principal]."

Read the complete text of the lawsuit filed on Jane Doe's behalf at HeraldLink.

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