Newton doesn't have AIDS and she has tested negative for HIV, but, like millions of other sexual assault victims, she constantly fears the man who raped her gave her the deadly virus. While Newton has been told that her attacker had AIDS, many other rape victims are left knowing only that the possibility exists. Privacy laws prevent some states from releasing inmates' HIV test results or causes of death, even to their victims. In recent years, some state legislatures, including Arizona, Hawaii, Kentucky, South Carolina and Wisconsin, have amended their laws to give victims access to such records. In Georgia, district attorneys are allowed to inform victims.
Many victims say their inability to find out their attacker's status makes their ordeal even worse.
Greene has sued Florida to get the medical records of her attacker but has been told several times she can't access them due to privacy considerations. He certainly disregarded mine. But then I started thinking that my time might come soon. Victim advocates say Newton's chance of infection is greater than that of women who have normal sexual intercourse with an HIV-positive man because the brutal nature of the attack led to more blood contact. You have to go through that struggle of not knowing for sure, even if the first test is negative.