The State - News from Aug. 31, 1988

A San Diego businessman infected with AIDS sued a hospital and a blood bank, charging that the two organizations withheld from him for six months knowledge that a unit of blood platelets he received in a transfusion was contaminated with the AIDS virus. During those six months, Monte Kobey was deprived of months of medical care and needlessly exposed his wife to the virus, the lawsuit claims. Kobey’s wife has tested negative for the virus. The suit claims that Kobey, president of a corporation that runs a swap meet, was infected with the virus during a blood transfusion he received during a coronary bypass operation. Kobey’s attorney said Kobey learned he had been infected with the virus after he was hospitalized for a suspected infection of his brain.