Nurse Seeks Order for Patient’s HIV Test

PITTSBURGH – A nurse has asked a judge to order a man to take an HIV test because she was accidentally stuck with a needle she used to give him insulin.

According to her petition, filed Friday in Pittsburgh, Kimberly Pitts was stuck with the needle Oct. 31 at Mercy Hospital. The man, who isn’t named in the petition, is infected with hepatitis C and used drugs, placing him at a high risk to carry HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, but he refused to take the test, the petition states.

“This is an unusual circumstance. It’s the first time in our recollection where a patient refused the test,” said Linda Ross, a spokeswoman for Mercy Hospital, which supports Pitts’ petition.

Under Pennsylvania law, patients may refuse to take an HIV test but hospitals can test their blood if a doctor agrees there was a “significant exposure” to the virus. It’s unclear if the hospital has a sample of the patient’s blood.

About 2,500 health care workers a year develop HIV or hepatitis B or C after being stuck by patients’ needles, according to the Emergency Nurses Association.