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New Jersey Superior Court, Law Division, Mercer County/Direct

Jeanne LoCicero/ACLU-NJ

On June 29, 2000, the ACLU-NJ filed a lawsuit on behalf of an HIV positive woman and her newborn child. The woman's blood was tested for HIV without her written consent or authorization. Later, after she gave birth, the child was removed from her custody based upon her refusal to provide AZT to the newborn. The case was filed in the United States District Court against the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services and Capital Health System, Inc. for discriminatory policies and unlawful treatment of plaintiff. The complaint alleged constitutional and statutory violations stemming from an unauthorized HIV test, breach of confidentiality, and interference with custodial and parental rights. It also alleged that DYFS filed false affidavits with the court, which stated that the woman was drug involved at the time of her pregnancy, in an effort to remove the child from the woman's custody. In June 2002, we settled the case with DYFS, which agreed that failure to provide AZT would not be a per se reason to take away a child. In December 2002, the court ruled on the additional defendants' dismissal motion. While the court dismissed claims against various individual defendants, the court permitted claims against Capital Health Systems to remain and allowed the plaintiff to amend the complaint to add additional bases for violations under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination and the Americans with Disabilities Act. In September 2003, the Court dismissed the remaining federal claims against the defendants, although numerous state claims remained. As such, the Court permitted the plaintiffs to withdraw the case and file the remaining claims (including the breach of confidentiality and the unauthorized testing claims) in state court. The case was refiled in the New Jersey Superior Court in Mercer County on October 21, 2003.

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