Nurse Falsely Outs Gay Man as HIV-Positive to Patients

A gay man has received an apology after a nurse announced that he was HIV-positive in front of a crowded waiting room of other patients, as well as the man's boss.

Liam Taylor, of Christchurch, New Zealand, said that he had gone to his dentist's office for a root canal earlier this year, and during the procedure, a dental assistant pricked herself with a needle. According to The Dominion Post, Taylor was asked to take a blood test to ensure that he had not transmitted HIV or another blood-based illness to the dental assistant

When he arrived at St. George's Hospital for testing, Taylor went to a nurse supervising the desk to clarify the details on the incident report.

"I took it back up to the desk and the nurse said I had filled out the wrong section of the form," he said in the article. "She said I needed to fill out the 'source' section, not the 'recipient' section because I was 'the source of the HIV or AIDS.' I was just totally shocked when she said that."

Taylor's boss accompanied him to the clinic, and overheard the nurse's statement. "The nurse then said, 'sorry, I mean the potential source of HIV or AIDS.' I was so embarassed, All these people were in the waiting room, and she said it loudly...and the first thing that came to my mind was, 'is she just assuming that I have diseased because I'm gay?'

Taylor tested negative for HIV.

After he told the dental office what happened, they reduced his bill by $150. A staff person at the lab also called Taylor to apologize for the incident.