Toronto man who got HIV from former stripper wife wants her deported.

[FrancoisParis_ 100]

A Toronto man who contracted HIV from his former stripper wife is hoping he?s alive to see her get deported to Thailand.

 

?I am not going to give up my fight,? Percy Whiteman said of his ex, Suwalee Iamkhong. ?My life is not a game for anyone to play with.?

 

Whiteman and his lawyer appeared before a Federal Court of Canada last Thursday in an ongoing battle with immigration officials to get Iamkhong deported due to her criminal record. The case was remanded until Jan. 4.

 

He has launched a $30-million lawsuit against the Canada Border Services Agency and Zanzibar Strip Club in Toronto in connection with the case.

 

He claims Iamkhong, 40, a former stripper at the Zanzibar, was allowed into the country with HIV and that led to his life being placed in jeopardy. Lawyers for the government are trying to have the case thrown out.

 

?I am the one who?s suffering with HIV,? Whiteman said. ?My life is on the line and nothing has happened to her.?

 

The pair were married from 1997 to 2004, when she told him that she had HIV.

 

Iamkhong arrived in Canada in 1995 and danced at the Zanzibar until 2004. Before that, she had worked as a prostitute in Thailand.

 

A manager from Zanzibar said today he was not aware of the lawsuit, adding it may have been before his time there.

 

Iamkhong was sentenced in August, 2007 to two years in jail after being convicted of criminal negligence causing bodily harm for infecting Whiteman.- Edmonton Sun

 

Even though they are no longer married, under Canadian law Whiteman is still financially responsible for Iamkhong till 2011. I somewhat understand Whiteman?s anger if Canadian immigration failed in their duty. I don?t know if the country?s immigration laws allow someone who is HIV positive to immigrate. Though I have to ask, how couldn?t Whiteman have a clue about his wife?s background?

 

For over twenty years I worked at one healthcare job or another. Mostly as a radiology technician. AIDS patients and those who test HIV positive always made us wary if not scared. As I and others worked with were only human, we sometimes let our fears alter the way we reacted go these patients. It is human nature to have fears but as professionals we shouldn?t let it interfere with our work.

 

When I was stationed at Balboa in 1986, a Marine family came through the Naval Hospital. I had some brief interaction with Mutsuko Gaffney and her year-old son John. Both had AIDS, Mutsuko getting infected after receiving a tainted blood transfusion at a Naval Hospital in 1981. Mutsuko gave AIDS not just to her son born in 1985 but caused her husband Martin to become HIV positive also. Another daughter by some miracle did not get the AIDS virus from her infected mother. By 1992, Maureene Gaffney was the only member of her immediate family still alive.

 

The Gaffney story was horribly tragic. An incompetent Navy doctor allowed her to go to 44 weeks pregnant. This caused the baby to die in utero and a caesarian section had to be performed. Mutsuko lost blood due to the surgery and had to get a transfusion. The blood had been donated a day or two earlier by a service member who was eventually discharged for engaging in homosexual activity.

 

Mutsuko was a worried mother when we met. She was sick but her main concern was for her son. I did the job I was assigned but without much enthusiasm. Mutsuko and John Gaffney would both be dead within a year or so and they deserved better from the Navy.

 

I didn?t meet Martin Gaffney, but I heard of his anger at what had been done to him and his family. The Gaffneys were being destroyed because of the failures of others. Martin Gaffney sued the federal government and won a settlement of over Three million dollars. By the time he was paid, Gaffney was days away from dying. He was a Marine to the end, he fought all the battles he faced and with courage. He and his family were failed by those who were supposed to do their utmost to help.

 

Source: http://rokdrop.com/2009/10/24/toronto-man-who-got-hiv-from-former-stripper-wife-wants-her-deported/