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August 05, 2002 Test suspects for HIV, cop asks By Chris McKenna Times Herald-Record cmckenna@th-record.com Blooming Grove – The ordeal began in April when New York City police Officer Nicholas Rampulla got a suspect's blood and a cut on his arm during a struggle in lower Manhattan. Not knowing if he'd been exposed to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, Rampulla had to take pills for a month that sickened him with severe side effects. And for weeks he worried about infecting his wife and their 4-year-old son with a deadly disease. Now, Rampulla and his wife, Phyllis, are fighting for legislation to let cops and others demand a criminal suspect be tested for HIV when they're put in similar situations. Under state law, an HIV test can only be given with the consent of the person being tested. And in Rampulla's case, no consent was given. As the Rampullas see it, knowing a suspect's HIV status could spare others some of the uncertainty, anxiety and discomfort officer Rampulla endured after his tussle on Rector Street. "The worst part," he recalled, "was dealing with my son." "It affects our household," his wife said. "It affects our friends. It affects our family." As it turns out, there's a bill that would accomplish their goal. It's been sitting in the state Assembly since 1993, but has never made it to a vote. The bill would let cops, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, correction officers and sex-crime victims demand an HIV test when contact with a suspect's bodily fluids has put them at risk of infection. The legislation would apply to the hundreds of city cops and firefighters living in Orange County, and the many correction officers, local cops, firefighters and ambulance workers in the mid-Hudson. Harvey Weisenberg, the Long Island Democrat who introduces the bill each year, is furious. He says the bill has been blocked by AIDS politics and concerns about protecting a suspect's privacy rights. "They're more worried about the invasion of privacy of a criminal suspect than the person who's going to be the potential victim," said Weisenberg, a former police officer. "It's government's responsibility to protect the people that protect our society." But opponents question the medical value of testing the blood "source" in cases like Rampulla's, saying it wouldn't help the exposed person. "There is rarely, if ever, any purpose in testing the subject," said Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, a Manhattan Democrat and chairman of the Assembly Health Committee, where the bill has been bottled up. Learning that a blood source has tested negative, he said, might only give an exposed person false hope, because the source may be infected with HIV but not yet producing the antibodies detected in the most common HIV tests. The New York Civil Liberties Union raises similar objections. Robert Perry, NYCLU legislative counsel, said in addition to a "false negative," testing the source could yield a "false positive," causing undue alarm. "This issue has been widely debated for a decade," Perry said. According to the state Health Department's AIDS Institute, antibodies usually appear in the bloodstream six to 12 weeks after an HIV infection, longer in rare instances. As a precaution, the AIDS Institute recommends that anyone who has had "significant exposure" to possible infection begin taking anti-HIV drugs immediately, and no later than 36 hours after exposure. Unions representing city cops and correction officers both support Weisenberg's legislation. "New York City police officers are risking their lives and should be given special consideration," said Joseph Mancini, spokesman for the New York City Police Benevolent Association. The HIV medication made Nicholas Rampulla so sick – "the worst flu," he said – that he was consigned to desk duty and missed work with a churning stomach for about two weeks. He has since returned to full duty. All his HIV tests, including one taken at three months, have come back negative. He'll be checked again at six months and a year. He's not sure what's become of the man he tussled with. That morning in April, the man was driving wildly, careened onto sidewalks and crashed into a backhoe. He was charged with driving under the influence, reckless endangerment and assaulting a police officer. The assault charge was later dropped. Meanwhile, the legislative fight continues. The Rampullas met Tuesday with state Sen. William Larkin Jr., R-C-Cornwall-on-Hudson, to discuss the issue, and they're collecting signatures in support of Weisenberg's bill on an Internet petition at www.e-thepeople.org/a-41/p/2421. "We just want this law passed," Nicholas Rampulla said. 40 Mulberry Street * PO Box 2046 * Middletown, NY 10940 Telephone 845-341-1100 or 800-295-2181 outside the Middletown, N.Y., area. For optimal viewing experience, click here. Copyright Orange County Publications. All rights reserved.
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