After reading Teach's comment on my last blog I decided to look into something she had mentioned. She told me about another man who was knowingly infecting women with HIV. Some of these women had appeared on Oprah back in 2009 to tell their story.
A man the women described as "handsome and charismatic" had made his way into the life a 58 year old divorcee, Diane, who said that he made her "feel like the only woman on the face of the eath" (Winfrey, 2009). She began supporting him by paying for his bills, including his medical bills. Later on in the relationship she began to suspect him, Philippe, of cheating on her. Since she paid for his phone bill she confirmed this when hearing a voice mail, she broke up with him. Not too long after she went to her gynocologist for a routine exam and was informed that she had an STD. Diane had called one of the other women, Susan, that Philippe was cheating on her with and she had found out that he was dating 9 other women the same time he was dating Diane. Diane informed Susan that she had an STD so Susan wen to get checked as well. Both of them women came to find that they were HIV positive. Together they tracked down the women Philippe had been seeing and warned them of the situation. They ended up getting ahold of between 23 and 26 women. The women followed Philippe for about 6 months and eventually filed a police report which lead to a cease and desist order telling him to stop having unprotected sex. In 2005 Diane remembered a key piece of evidence that lead to Philippes arrest (Winfrey, 2009).
A man the women described as "handsome and charismatic" had made his way into the life a 58 year old divorcee, Diane, who said that he made her "feel like the only woman on the face of the eath" (Winfrey, 2009). She began supporting him by paying for his bills, including his medical bills. Later on in the relationship she began to suspect him, Philippe, of cheating on her. Since she paid for his phone bill she confirmed this when hearing a voice mail, she broke up with him. Not too long after she went to her gynocologist for a routine exam and was informed that she had an STD. Diane had called one of the other women, Susan, that Philippe was cheating on her with and she had found out that he was dating 9 other women the same time he was dating Diane. Diane informed Susan that she had an STD so Susan wen to get checked as well. Both of them women came to find that they were HIV positive. Together they tracked down the women Philippe had been seeing and warned them of the situation. They ended up getting ahold of between 23 and 26 women. The women followed Philippe for about 6 months and eventually filed a police report which lead to a cease and desist order telling him to stop having unprotected sex. In 2005 Diane remembered a key piece of evidence that lead to Philippes arrest (Winfrey, 2009).
Philipe Padieu was charged with 6 counts of assult with a deadly weapon, the weapon being his body fluid (Winfrey, 2009). Unfortunaltey from this situation, 10 women became HIV positive. All of the 10 women testified against him and a DNA expert was able to find that the women all had the same stand of HIV (Winfrey, 2009). In May of 2009, Philippe was sentenced. He received 45 years in prison and would be eligible for parole when he is 76 (Winfrey, 2009). I admire these women for taking the offesnive on this sick individual. For them to help the other victims while they themselves are going through such a rough period in their lives is amazing. They didn't just sit there and wallow in their sorrows, they did something about it. I have no words for this man, I will never be able to understand their though process or why they did what they did. There will never ever be any justification for his actions except that he is obviously sick in the head. I think these women found a support system with the other victims and this is the best thing for them because in this case they all know exactly what one another is going through. I hope they stick together and keep in touch.
Did You Know?
In 1999, a New York city department of health study found that more than 18% of women entering the city jail were living with HIV compared to the 7.6% of men who were entering the city jail with HIV (Women in prison project, 2009). The same study found that African American women accounted for 21% of HIV positive cases while Latina's accounted for 14% and caucasian accounted for 12% (Women in prison project, 2009).
Sources:
Winfrey, O. (2009, October). New faces of hiv/aids. Retrieved from http://www.oprah.com/health/New-Faces-of-HIV-and-AIDS/5
Women in prison project. (2009, April). Retrieved from http://www.correctionalassociation.org/publications/download/wipp/factsheets/HIV_Hep_C_Fact_Sheet_2009_FINAL.pdf
Thank you for posting that Oprah story. Like the title of this blog, it never fails to shock there are people out there doing this terrible. We are trying to fight this disease and then there are people like this man out there undoing the hard work everyone else has done. I found your "did you know" very interesting. Just out of curiosity, do you happen to know what these women were being jailed for? I only ask because if they were arrested for prostitution, that would makes sense to me, being that they have multiple partners and probably do not use protection, and may have a drug habit as well.
ReplyDeleteGlad you were able to see parts of the program, Ashley. Fortunately, we don't have a lot of these individuals getting others infected. I think it is the mentality that someone did it to me, so I'll just pass on the favor. Sick to be sure.
ReplyDelete