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Woman With HIV a Threat to Public Safety Because of Continued Drug Abuse: Court

Posted on: Friday, 7 December 2007, 18:00 CST

By THE CANADIAN PRESS

HALIFAX - An HIV-infected woman diagnosed with chronic schizophrenia poses a significant threat to public safety because of her continued drug abuse and delusions, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal said in a ruling released Friday.

The court concluded the unnamed 38-year-old is likely to continue using cocaine, prompting psychotic episodes that lead her to believe she has been hypnotized to work for the RCMP as an undercover prostitute.

The ruling says that when the woman is in a psychotic state, she believes she does not have to use protection against sexually transmitted diseases.

"She believed ... that $1 million worth of condoms has been placed in her uterus so that she does not have to use protection," the ruling says, citing a psychiatric assessment.

As a result, the court rejected her request to be discharged from release conditions that require her to live at a provincially approved facility, continue treatment for her mental illness and abstain from consuming illicit drugs or alcohol.

In February 2004, she was found not criminally responsible for her actions after she was charged with two counts of communication for the purpose of prostitution.

However, she was subsequently ordered by the Nova Scotia Review Board to be detained at the East Coast Psychiatric Hospital in nearby Dartmouth.

By the end of 2004, she had left the hospital without permission on four occasions and twice tested positive for cocaine use.

She was discharged in August 2006 on the conditions she reside in hospital-approved premises and abstain from alcohol and drugs.

But evidence before the court showed the woman, who is also infected with hepatitis C, quickly ran into trouble.

"Since 2006, drug abuse has been a serious problem," the ruling said. "After her discharge from the hospital ... (she) immediately began going AWOL, using cocaine during these absences."

The review board decided on June 25 to continue with the conditional discharge.

The woman launched an appeal, arguing she is entitled to an absolute discharge because medication has brought her mental illness under control and she is no longer under the jurisdiction of the Nova Scotia Review Board.

But a three-judge panel rejected her request, saying that while she is at low risk to be violent, "the risk that she will cause harm to others through unprotected sex is significant."

A letter from a psychiatrist to the board said the woman was unable to stop using cocaine and does not accept that she is addicted to the drug.

"The public health risk is potentially serious and could have fatal consequences, given that ... (she) has potentially fatal infectious diseases, a history of prostitution and of failure to take measures to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases."

Source: Canadian Press

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