NATION IN BRIEF : MASSACHUSETTS : Government Found Liable in AIDS Case

A Marine officer who contracted the AIDS virus from his wife after she was fatally infected by a transfusion in a Navy hospital is entitled to damages from the government, a judge in Boston ruled. U.S. District Judge Rya Zobel found the government negligent for the infections, which killed Matsuko Gaffney, and her son, John, even though AIDS had not been identified as a disease when she was infected in 1981. The judge ordered a second trial to determine damages for Chief Warrant Officer Martin Gaffney, 40, and his daughter, Maureene, who sued the government for $55 million two years ago. Maureene, 6, is the only family member not infected by the virus.