"Killer Nurse" Injects a Baby with HIV

While scrolling through Ugandan news, I was completely floored by this headline: “Nurse Accused of Spreading HIV inUganda”. Wait a minute…someone spread HIV on PURPOSE? I was simultaneously angry and appalled. I was even more enraged when I read the label “killer nurse” and the alleged crime: injecting a 2 year old with her HIV-infected blood. 

However, once I read the entire article, I was forced to confront my ignorance head on. I felt a mix of confusing emotions, as my anger was completely redirected. Relief, sympathy, and anger overwhelmed me for a completely different reason than the title of this article suggests.  It reminded me how sometimes we need to remove ourselves from the sensationalized fray and really take a look at the full picture. What is the truth? Thus, I must unpack this story.

In March, a 64-year-old Ugandan nurse was charged with attempted murder and sent to jail without bail. Her crime? Injecting a baby with her HIV infected blood. Okay, so your first reaction is “GOOD”. What a terrible crime! Of course, something so incredibly inhumane rattles us. It is particularly enraging because an innocent baby was victimized. This baby cannot defend him/herself, or even have the knowledge of the crime. How could someone be so cruel to a defenseless baby?

This is where I say to keep reading.  If anything, the story highlights how hospital standards must be stricter to prevents accidents such as this. Sadly, the nurse was so instantly demonized that the important message of this story is completely lost…

            This is what happened: While the nurse was trying to give the child a shot, she accidentally pricked her finger. Instead of ignoring the wound, she responsibly left to get a Band-Aid. When she returned, however, she resumed administering the shot with the contaminated needle. Her negligence stirred the mother’s concern that her baby could have been exposed to HIV. Consequently, the nurse was screened for HIV and exposed as HIV positive. The "killer nurse" was immediately sent to jail without bail because she “posed a grave danger to the public”.

            Doctors then gave the child post exposure treatment. They are currently waiting to see test results confirming whether or not the child has HIV.

           

It is true the nurse could have acted maliciously, but what are the odds? What would be her motive? This is a situation that sounds very much like carelessness rather than attempted murder. Of course, the woman should face consequences for endangering the life of an infant. However, there is an immeasurable difference between a planned attack on a person’s life and an accident.

            Fortunately, this fact was recognized. During the trial, the charge was revised to criminal negligence. I sighed in relief. However, I couldn’t escape a haunting feeling that there was still something fundamentally wrong about this whole story.

I soon realized that my blood was still boiling because of HIV prejudice.

            The nurse shouldn’t be on trial in the first place. Instead, her mistake should have been 
“referred to the Uganda Nurses and Midwives Council, a statutory body charged with protecting the public from unsafe nursing practices”. 
 She should have answered to them. This realization completely changed the story, as it illustrated the horrific reality of an HIV stigma that plagues Uganda. The nurse was on trial for having HIV. She was treated with immediate hostility and brutality. She instantly became a villain because of her HIV status.

According to AIDS-Free World, the case illustrates  
“the failure of both the media and the prosecutor's office to act responsibly" and could set "a dangerous precedent and could have grave consequences for the fundamental rights of people living with HIV and AIDS in Uganda and beyond”.

            If she is convicted, the wrongness of this misdirected hatred and HIV prejudice will be unaddressed. The importance of this story will slip through the cracks…According to Fox News, "public knowledge of one's HIV-positive status can destroy a life". The horrific treatment of the nurse exemplifies this, as she is permanently branded with the word evil. This unwarranted hatred needs to be destroyed, or those with HIV will continue to suffer.

Wow! What an incredibly misleading title, right? Yet, the sad reality is that many people take this message at face value and sharpen pitchforks for all the wrong reasons. What a daunting and horrific reality, knowing that we can get something all wrong. Plain out ignorance is catastrophic, as it terrorizes communities and perpetuates stigma and violence that can ruin people’s lives.