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HPV Legal Repercussions
A very dear friend of mine, Ryan, was told this morning, by his ex girlfriend, Jenna, that she has HPV. Jenna has had very few partners before my friend. Her friend, Tori, was also a previous partner of Ryan's. Tori apparently knew that she had HPV shortly after she slept with Ryan which was about a year ago. Ryan never knew he had HPV until this morning when Jenna called him hysterical crying after the results of her STD exam came back positive for HPV. There is no doubt in Jenna nor Ryan's minds that Ryan was who gave Jenna and Tori HPV.
Here's the questions:
1. Because Ryan unknowingly gave these two women HPV, is he at risk for any legal repercussions?
2. If there are legal repercussions, is Tori responsible for not having notified Ryan, when she knew that he was a strong candidate for having given her the virus?
3. Does Ryan have a legal obligation to notify his past partners? If so, how far back into his sex life is he required to go back? He has slept with 16 women, the first two of which were 100% not HPV positive. A year ago, he slept with a woman who has since been tested and is negative for HPV.
4. His doctor said that the only test he can do to test Ryan for HPV is a visual wart exam. Is this true? Is there nothing else he can do?
5. How long should Ryan refrain from sexual encounters? How long can it remain in your system?
6. If one of the girls he infected with HPV develops medical problems or cervical cancer, is Ryan legally entirely to blame for that? There were times that he engaged in consensual non-protected sex.
Thank you very much for your time.
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Want to answer more questions in the Sexual Health and Reproduction category?
Maybe give some free advice about: STD Information?
The following URL is a link to a web page from the CDC, the Center for Disease Control. I believe this article will answer most of your questions as well as give you more information on HPV:
[Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
Now for your questions.
Question 1. The answer is no. The only STD that I am aware of that a person can be charged with a crime or civil penalties, both, is for knowingly infecting someone with HIV/AIDS.
Question 2. In general the County or State Health Departments will make the notifications when required. When someone is found to have an STDD they are generally asked to make a list of past sexual partners. Then the Health Department sends a notice to these past partners suggesting they be tested and treated. Since there is no known test for this Tori may not have been asked to make such a list. So the answer her again would be no.
Question 3. The answer here again is no for the same reason it was no in question 2. Ryan is under no legal obligation. This information is something a woman's GYN might like to have in these women's medical records. So from a moral standpoint Ryan should consider informing anyone he has had sex with since he was exposed, even if it was protected sex as if I read the article correctly, as HPV can be transmitted through oral sex as well.
Question 4. Ryan's doctor is correct as you will see if you read the article I have attached the URL for.
Question 5. This is something Ryan should discuss with his doctor. If I have read the article correctly it stated if left untreated HPV will usually clear the body in 2 years. The article did not say anything, that I read about abstaining from sexual relations. I would suggest that Ryan not participate in unprotected sex anytime in the future or until his doctor says it is okay to do so.
Question 6. This question should be no. I say should be because there is no law that I am aware of, that would be TORT Law not Criminal Law, that could be brought to trial. Then again we are a very litigious society and there are a lot of lawyers out there. We are currently bringing Law Suits for things we never thought would get through the court room door.
While it is not my intent to scare you or Ryan. As it stands today the answer would be no. In 20 or 30 years the answer could very well change although I have serious reservations that it would. I only say this because you asked the question and I have to answer as I think I should. How I feel the answer should be when talking about a future occurrence that at the moment is a hypothetical question.
One thing I suggest you all do is talk to your doctors about the HPV inoculation. Those that have been exposed and those that are known to be infected need to find out if the inoculation is something they can still have and if they should consider getting. The same is true for those known to be exposed.
I have a feeling you are all teenagers or very young adults, so I will caution you about this medication. There is a lot of controversy about this medication so do the research and talk with your parents before allowing your doctors to inoculate you.
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1, 2, 3 and 6 are relatively straightforward. At the moment, there is no precedent in the states for any legal action against a person who didn't know they were infected with an STI OR who was infected a partner with HPV.
The legal repercussion at this point have generally been restricted to people who knew they were infected, and who infected their partners with STIs that had much more serious health implications, like herpes and HIV.
HPV is so common that at least 50% of sexually active men and women get it at some point in their lives. (Some studies put it as high as 70%), and the only substantial risk from it is cervical cancer for women, and even still, most women who have HPV will not develop cervical cancer.
I'm not trying to downplay cervical cancer (which is very serious and women need to be getting regularly screened for it), I'm only trying to point out the difference between HPV in prevalence and risks as opposed to say, HIV. Those differences are a large part of why there will be no civil or criminal repercussions for your friend.
Ryan should tell his sexual partners tho, if he knows he has/or has been exposed to HPV. His exes might be able to tell him what strain it is - some strains are more dangerous than others.
4.) This is true. There is no reliable test for HPV in men.
5.) HPV can stay forever, or be purged in hours. There is no way for him to know. Ryan should find out what strain of HPV his exes have. If it's a wart-causing strain and he's never had warts, he might be safe to assume he doesn't have it. If it's a strain linked to cervical cancer, he should let his partners he might have that strain of HPV and use condoms - which can reduce the risk of transmission - but not eliminate it.
I understand that this is really stressful for your friend, but as I wrap this up, lets recap:
HPV is REALLY common. It might be one of the most common human viruses ever.
Most sexually active people with catch it at some point in their lives.
Most people with HPV will never know they have it.
Most people's body will overcome it in time.
There is no 100% way for a man to know if he has it, or if his body has overcome it.
Most women with HPV will NOT develop cervical cancer.
Sexually active women should be getting yearly check up and regular STI checks, so that if they do get something like cervical cancer (or are at risk for it), it can be caught early, when it's very, very treatable.
So in the end, this is a really good chance for your friend and these women to educate themselves about something they really should know. As scary as it sounds, it's really not as catastrophic as it first seems.
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1,2,3, and 6: There are no legal repercussions for giving someone HPV. He has no legal obligation, but I would say telling his past sex partners that he thinks are at risk for having it because of him would be the right thing to do.
4. Currently, there is no test that can accurately tell you if you have HPV if you are a man. A visual wart exam only tests for genital warts, which is only one of the many strands of HPV and doesn't even necessarily show that symptom because it can lie in an incubation period for years.
5. It's impossible to say. He may always have it, but several strands are harmless and are taken care of eventually by your body. Some stay with you forever.
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Hi, I can't help too much with the disease information as I don't know too much about it, but generally I believe it's accepted that sex is your responsibility. The only way a legal case could be issues I presume is if one of the women claims she was raped.
Getting an STD is down to you and the partner, there's no obligation to inform someone you have a disease but it is a decent considerate thing to do. there's also no law about using protection, its entirely down to the people involved to make that decision. As for the cancer question, though he may blame himself, he wouldn't be to blame.
Don't worry about any legal issues, even if one of the girls decided to take him to court, it wouldn't be a strong case and might just be rejected on the spot :)
goodluck x
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