Patient misdiagnosed as HIV-positive sues Maryland hospital

A woman misdiagnosed as being HIV-positive by Maryland General Hospital in Baltimore filed a negligence lawsuit Wednesday against the hospital, The Baltimore Sun reports. The lawsuit, seeking $2 million in damages, is the first to be filed against the hospital since investigators discovered irregularities in a hospital lab that could have resulted in as many as 460 inaccurate HIV and hepatitis C test results. State inspectors concluded that 10% to 15% of the HIV tests performed at the hospital lab during a 14-month period ending in August 2003 may have been inaccurate. Robyn Joynes-Carey filed the lawsuit because she said her inaccurate HIV-positive diagnosis lead her to become depressed, quit her job, and leave a master's degree program at Morgan State University. A hospital spokesperson calls the lawsuit "frivolous" and says the woman was told the initial test was preliminary and needed to be followed up by a second test to confirm that she was infected.