Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1993. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
San Francisco Chronicle - Wednesday, November 17, 1993
Jim Doyle, Chronicle Staff Writer
Diane Washington, a naval reservist, says the Navy failed to order Petty Officer John Joseph to tell his potential sex partners that he was carrying the AIDS virus -- even though the Navy had determined a year earlier that Joseph was HIV-positive.
The reservist, who sued the secretary of the Navy for negligence in supervising the sailor, said she would not have had sex with Joseph if she had known that he was HIV-positive.
But a three-judge panel yesterday unanimously threw out Washington's case, ruling that the Navy's actions are not open to judicial "second-guessing" under a 1950 U.S. Supreme Court case that prevents members of the armed forces from suing the federal government for injuries related to military service.
Washington argued that the doctrine did not apply to her because she was a civilian employee. But the court held that the basis of her complaint was the Navy's "failure to issue an appropriate military order to Joseph."
Joseph was later court martialed and convicted of aggravated assault against Washington.
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