The Pietermaritzburg High Court on Wednesday ruled that a Bedfordview woman was infected with HIV by a negligent KwaZulu-Natal Health Department paramedic who attended to her.

The paramedic attended to the woman after treating a pedestrian who died in a car accident in 2000.

Judge Shimon Patel has ruled that the health department paramedic failed to perform the woman’s treatment with a reasonable degree of skill and care.

It was found that he failed to ensure that no contamination occurred in handling the dead pedestrian and the unnamed motorist.

Patel found that the paramedic should have known that with the high incidence of HIV and with two people with open bleeding wounds, he should have foreseen the risk of cross-contamination.

The Health Department has been found liable but the court did not make a ruling on damages.