McCullum v. Singing River Hospital System, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 108022 (S.D. Miss., Aug. 17, 2015)

MISSISSIPPI – U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola, Jr., dismissed a pro se complaint filed by Cedric Jerome McCullum, an inmate at the Jackson County Adult Detention Center, who claimed his rights had been violated when he was incorrectly diagnosed HIV positive at Singing River Hospital Center in 2007. During his current incarceration at Jackson County Adult Detention Center, he was administered a new blood test and was negative for HIV. He filed a federal constitutional claim accompanied by state tort claims. The court dismissed sua sponte, finding that a misdiagnosis that somebody was HIV-positive did not state a constitutional claim. McCullum claimed that the misdiagnosis was harmful to his reputation, but the court found that “there is no constitutional right to be free from defamation or slander.” The court dismissed the federal constitutional claim with prejudice, but the state law claims without prejudice, so that McCullum could refile them in state court.  (Summary provided by September 2015 Lesbian / Gay Law Notes).