The Iowa Court of Appeals has upheld a $1.5 million jury award against a dentist for infecting a woman with a sexually transmitted disease, finding that he caused harm to her “most intimate and private interests” with his “reckless” behavior.

The verdict was one of the largest in a case of negligent infliction of an STD and included $800,000 in punitive damages. Dr. Alan Evans, a Muscatine, Iowa, dentist, allegedly infected Karly Rossiter with human papilloma virus (HPV) after telling her he was disease-free.

Rossiter has been diagnosed with both strains of HPV, one of which causes genital warts and the other cell abnormalities that can lead to cervical cancer. While she was not able to prove Evans knew he had HPV, the appeals court said she had presented sufficient evidence “from which the jury could find that ... he should have known that he carried HPV.”

Judge Amanda Potterfield -– the only woman on the three-judge panel –- wrote the Dec. 30 opinion. On the issue of damages, she ruled that the award of punitives was not excessive because “the harm caused was not only physical, it concerns the most intimate and private interests, including sexuality and childbearing.”

Evans's conduct, she continued,

demonstrated a reckless disregard for Rossiter's health and safety. Evans is a dentist. He has received medical training and should be aware of the risks associated with communicable diseases. Yet, Evans engaged in numerous sexual acts with Rossiter, repeatedly exposing her to genital warts, HPV, and bacterial vaginitis.

Judge Potterfield

The FDA has not approved an HPV test for men and some men may have the virus without developing symptoms. But Potterfield noted that Evans had genital warts and “the morning after their first sexual encounter, Evans told Rossiter she should be checked for HPV.”

According to Rossiter's medical expert, genital warts is “the most common way for someone to know they had HPV.”

As a result of Evans's “constructive knowledge” of HPV infection, the jury ruled, he had a duty to warn Rossiter or avoid transmitting the disease to her. Rossiter also alleged that he infected her with bacterial vaginitis during their 18-month relationship but that disease, unlike genital warts, is permanently curable.

Evans argued that “no damage award for negligent transmission of an STD in any reported case in any jurisdiction in the United States comes remotely close” to the award in his case. But Potterfield said the prior cases “do not concern the transmission of HPV, several types of which can lead to cancer.”

Earlier this year, a California jury ordered a wealthy businessman to pay $6.7 million to a woman who accused him of infecting her with genital herpes. Tom Redmond admitted he had the disease but denied that he failed to tell Patricia Behr about his infection before they had sex.

By Matthew Heller
12/30/09