Permanent Personal Injury Damage From An Encounter: What To Do
Posted on: 14 December 2022
If you have been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease (STD) after an encounter, you might be too upset to consider anything but your health. STDs like genital herpes can leave a permanent impact on victims and change their relationships forever. Read on to find out what you can do besides live and learn from a mistake.
Can You Sue Them?
Most people want to forget the entire relationship ever happened. However, it can be difficult to do that when you find out that your former partner knew they were infected with genital herpes and said nothing to you until it was too late. That can cause anger and who could blame you? However, you have only so many options when it comes to legal action based on fraud, negligence, and assault.
Fraud
Taking action to obtain monetary compensation based on fraud is possible when you have been inflicted with an infection like genital herpes. Fraud means that you participated in a sexual relationship based on bad information. Fraud requires that you were tricked into believing that the other party did not have genital herpes. To prove fraud, you must be able to show that the other party was aware that they had the disease, that they lied to you about it, and that you were damaged because you believed the lie.
Negligence
This personal injury form of harm is predicated on a party failing to use due care. Negligence may be far easier to prove than fraud since it does not require that the party tell a lie about the STD, just they should have informed the other party.
Legally, a person who has herpes (or who might have herpes) has a duty to inform the other party about it so that they can make an educated decision. Many people will probably note that both parties have an obligation to address this issue before they engage in sex and that is correct. It's up to everyone to use their own version of due care when they are entering relationships. However, the party that is afflicted with herpes has a greater burden of care to be forthcoming than the victim does. That can lead the victim to being paid damages.
In civil cases, victims who prove fraud or negligence may be paid for medical expenses and pain and suffering. They must prove that the diagnosis has impacted their lives to a major degree. However, there is the potential for criminal charges as well.
If you can show that you would not have had sex with the person, had you known about the STD, there is a chance that your state would classify that as sexual assault. You may be entitled to victim restitution if the person is convicted. To find out more about taking personal injury action, speak to a local personal injury lawyer.
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