Is this Assault?????

[2Blonde]

© AP
Esai MoralesEsai Morales Sued by Former Girlfriend

Jul 20, 2:39 PM EST

The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES -- Esai Morales has been sued by an ex-girlfriend who alleges the former "NYPD Blue" star assaulted her and gave her herpes.

Elizabeth Mazzocchi alleges intentional and negligent transmission of a sexually transmitted disease, assault, battery and breach of oral contract in the lawsuit, filed Thursday in Superior Court.

The lawsuit claims Morales knew he had herpes and never told Mazzocchi, leaving her with "an incurable disease that will have associated medical expenses, pain and discomfort for the rest of her life."

There was no immediate comment from Morales, the actor's publicist, Siri Garber, said Friday.

Mazzocchi's attorney, Gloria Allred, declined comment.

According to the lawsuit, Morales and Mazzocchi began their relationship in January 2006 and he moved into her Los Angeles home two months later.

Morales, 44, played police Lt. Tony Rodriguez on ABC's "NYPD Blue."

The lawsuit was first reported by the entertainment Web site CelebTV.com.



Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Esai Morales Sued For Assault (http://tv.msn.com/tv/article.aspx?news=269551)

So, if he unknowingly infected her with herpes... do you consider that assault?

[FromWayDowntown]

Esai Morales Sued For Assault (http://tv.msn.com/tv/article.aspx?news=269551)

So, if he unknowingly infected her with herpes... do you consider that assault?

An assault, by true legal definition, is a threat. A battery is the offensive touching itself.

Regardless, if he truly didn't know about it, he likely has a defense. The theory of the assault claim in that instance would be, I guess, that while she apparently consented to have sexual intercourse with him when she believed him to be disease-free, she wouldn't have done so had she known of his disease. Since assault requires proof that the defendant acted intentionally -- and here, I would think that would mean that he acted intentionally in having intercourse with her with knowledge that he had herpes -- if the defendant didn't know of the very thing that makes their encounter the basis of an assault claim, I would think he'd have a defense to that claim.

So, no.

[ZStomp]

Esai Morales has been sued by an ex-girlfriend who alleges the former "NYPD Blue" star assaulted her and gave her herpes.
Elizabeth Mazzocchi alleges intentional and negligent transmission of a sexually transmitted disease, assault, battery and breach of oral contract in the lawsuit, filed Thursday in Superior Court

According to the article it reads that Morales gave her herpes AND assaulted her- two different incidents apparently.

[FromWayDowntown]

Esai Morales has been sued by an ex-girlfriend who alleges the former "NYPD Blue" star assaulted her and gave her herpes.
Elizabeth Mazzocchi alleges intentional and negligent transmission of a sexually transmitted disease, assault, battery and breach of oral contract in the lawsuit, filed Thursday in Superior Court

According to the article it reads that Morales gave her herpes AND assaulted her- two different incidents apparently.

I don't think that's what it means. I suspect that the assault/battery was the sexual intercourse that led to the transmission of the sexually-transmitted disease.

I could be wrong, of course, but lawyers generally draft pleadings to read things like you're seeing here. It usually means that there was one act, but that it can be characterized in several ways.

[2Blonde]

Downtown,
I agree w/you. I figured the assault was the sexual incident resulting in herpes. If there had been some other incident that she was referring to in regards to the assault I would have thought it would have been mentioned in the article. Also the city/county/state would be filing criminal charges, instead she is suing him which I assume is a civil matter.

[ZStomp]

Don't you think it would read that he assaulted her by giving her herpes? If I ran into that here in SA/TX- it would not be an assault.

[ShoogarBear]

Seems squishy on a lot of levels.

How can she prove she didn't have herpes before they met? Or that he knew he had herpes? Or that she didn't get herpes from someone else?

Much harder to prove than something like HIV.

[boutons_]

Herpes Awareness Project Divides Health Officials

Drugmaker's Campaign Targets Blacks

By David Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 24, 2007; A03

Nearly one in two African American adults has genital herpes. Could it be you? Could it be your partner? . . . A simple blood test is the best way to know if you have it.

That's the language of an advertisement that has begun running in publications and on radio stations with largely black audiences in cities including Baltimore, Detroit and Atlanta.

The ad is part of a campaign by drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline to educate blacks about genital herpes, a sexually transmitted disease that is far more common among African Americans than other racial or ethnic groups. The effort has divided public health authorities and raised complicated questions about race, sex, disease and commerce.

As a pharmaceutical marketing tool, it may set a new standard for candor -- and controversy.

The "Say Yes to Knowing" campaign partners Glaxo with the National Medical Association, the country's main society of black physicians, and the American Social Health Association (ASHA), a nearly century-old organization devoted to fighting what used to be called "venereal disease." Each has received money from Glaxo in the past, although no donations were made in connection with this effort.

The campaign was introduced last month in Detroit, where it had the support of the local health department. In Baltimore the health commissioner has declined to endorse it.

Glaxo makes one of three drugs for genital herpes, which is caused by herpes simplex virus types 1 or 2. The infection cannot be cured, but it can be suppressed with daily medication.

Some experts worry that the campaign may lead to widespread testing and large-scale treatment of people who do not have symptoms -- a strategy not recommended by federal health authorities. Even Glaxo's supporters think the effort is likely to be controversial.

( If Glaxo was really concerned about blacks' health, they'd make their herpes drugs generic, take a hit in excess profits (mfrs make money from generic drugs).

"My sense is that this is probably a high-risk campaign for GSK," said Edward Hook, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and chairman of the board of ASHA. He believes that the campaign "will raise awareness across the country." He added, "I don't think even many doctors know how common genital herpes is."

A federal survey in the early 1990s found that 21 percent of American adults had the infection. Among blacks, the rate was 48 percent. A follow-up survey this decade found that the national prevalence had fallen to 17 percent, but in blacks it had not gone down significantly.

In about 40 percent of newly infected people, the virus causes painful, pimple-like sores on the genitals. Although they eventually go away even without treatment, they can reappear every few months. In most people, recurrences are less frequent as time passes. In the survey, only one in 10 people who tested positive knew they were infected. A person without symptoms can transmit the virus to a sexual partner.

Genital herpes poses two chief hazards, apart from pain and embarrassment. Active infection in late pregnancy can cause devastating illness in a newborn. Infection also triples the risk of acquiring the AIDS virus from an HIV-infected person.

Medical authorities advise testing anyone with herpes-like sores and treating those who have active or painful infections. Many experts also support long-term treatment of an infected person whose regular partner is uninfected. A study several years ago showed that a daily dose of Glaxo's drug valacyclovir (sold as Valtrex) cut the odds of transmitting the virus in half -- from 4 percent to 2 percent -- over a period of eight months.

Few experts, however, recommend testing all adults for herpes. Both the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which advises the Department of Health and Human Services, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists reject routine screening.

There are several reasons.

Telling people they have an incurable, sexually transmitted disease can have serious social and emotional consequences. And there is no evidence that long-term treatment of tens of millions of asymptomatic people is worth the time, effort and anguish.

And treatment can be expensive. While generic acyclovir, the oldest anti-herpes drug, costs as little as $9.96 for a month's supply, Glaxo's Valtrex costs $192.88.

Whether testing and treatment of a subpopulation, such as black adults, are useful and cost-effective has not been studied. A mathematical model published in March concluded that "suppressive coverage" would reduce the overall prevalence of genital herpes, especially if drugs were started right after people acquire the virus.

Baltimore's health commissioner, Joshua M. Sharfstein, said his department turned down Glaxo's request to become a local partner in its campaign "because of the lack of evidence to support, as a public health strategy, screening for herpes in people without symptoms." He added that "the racial targeting was not an issue that we needed to address to make a decision."

For their part, Glaxo officials describe the campaign as largely an educational experiment.

( yes, Glaxo would like to learn how many more 75+% gross margin $$$ they can make from genital herpes! http://spurstalk.com/forums/images/smilies/smilol.gif )

The company is surveying about 100 people in each city before and after the campaign to see if they learned anything about genital herpes.

"The first step is to see if we are able to move the needle and increase awareness," said Marc Meachem, a company official. The survey is not a formal epidemiological study, and there are no plans to publish the results.

Glaxo Senior Vice President Lynn Marks said, "We haven't said that we should screen any populations."

Nevertheless, on 100,000 brochures and a Web site, Herpes411.com, from the company, a message says, "A simple blood test is the best way to know if you have the virus." It goes on to say that people who think they may have been exposed "should ask your healthcare provider about being tested."

The campaign material does not mention Glaxo's drug, but a Web page devoted to it can be reached through the herpes site with two clicks.

Georges Benjamin, head of the American Public Health Association, said more research is needed to determine whether widespread testing and chronic treatment for herpes are worthwhile.

"While it is nice to educate people with a campaign like this, at the end of the day it tells us more about what we don't know than about what we do know," he said.

But Anita Moncrease is convinced. A physician and consultant who works part time for the Detroit health department, Moncrease urged Glaxo to engage other city health departments and is negotiating with the company for help in paying for blood tests for uninsured people in Detroit's public clinics.

She admits there is a risk of stigma and stereotype with a message aimed at one racial group. "I am concerned about the negative connotations because this is a sexually transmitted disease," she said. "But I am concerned about the public health of the citizens of the city of Detroit more."

Glaxo has previously targeted blacks for messages about diseases especially prevalent among them. It promoted the diabetes drug Avandia by direct mail, hired basketball star Magic Johnson for advertisements about AIDS treatment and engaged football player Jerome Bettis for an "asthma awareness" project.

"We need to reach out increasingly to these populations, not decreasingly," Marks said.

============

Question: You have a new acquaintance, you're just about to have sex (you can get genital herpes through oral sex), and your new partner says:

"I warn you that I have genital herpes, an incurable sexual disease, that I may infect you with that requires daily medication, costing many $1000 over the rest of your life, and makes you a vector to infect your future spouse. Do you still want to have sex with me?" http://spurstalk.com/forums/images/smilies/smilol.gif

[Bigzax]

all downhill for him after richie died...

[Taco]

all downhill for him after richie died...
:lol



It could have been worse, he could have gave here Hispes