Patient in AIDS Case Told to Pay Damages to Technician : Courts: The woman underwent a procedure in which a medical worker was cut by a scalpel.

A former Westside psychologist who kept her AIDS diagnosis hidden has been ordered to pay more than $100,000 in damages to a medical technician cut by a scalpel during a post-surgical procedure on the psychologist.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Horowitz ruled Thursday that Jan Lustig is fully responsible for $102,500 in damages awarded last month to technician Diane Boulais. In what is believed to be the first case of its kind in the country, a jury decided that Lustig, 46, committed fraud and inflicted emotional distress by keeping silent about her AIDS status while a patient at the Breast Center in Van Nuys two years ago.

Boulais, 40, has repeatedly tested negative for human immunodeficiency virus, which causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome, since her finger was cut while she helped a surgeon remove a suture from Lustig’s breast.

The case has attracted widespread attention because it represents the flip side of a debate over whether doctors and other health-care workers should be forced to disclose their AIDS status to patients.

“I can say with confidence . . . this is the first time ever in American legal history that a patient was ever held liable to a health care professional” for not revealing the diagnosis of an infectious disease, said Rex Beaber, Boulais’ attorney. “This is the first time that the law has said there are civil obligations for patients.”

Lustig, who has retired from her psychotherapy practice and now lives in Washington state, must also pay $9,000 in court costs.

Daniel Slaughter, one of Lustig’s attorneys, expressed disappointment with Thursday’s ruling, saying Lustig did not deliberately expose Boulais or others to AIDS or HIV, which she contracted in 1987.

“We are sort of surprised at the ruling because it’s another unfair thing that’s happened here. Everyone--including the plaintiff’s lawyer and the plaintiff--admitted that our client didn’t intend to harm anyone,” Slaughter said. “She may have been reckless . . . but she didn’t walk in there saying, ‘I hope these people contract HIV.’ ”

The defense argued that Lustig should pay only a portion of the damages which comprised $100,000 in compensatory damages and $2,500 in punitive damages. Lustig was found wholly responsible for fraud, but because Boulais ignored federal guidelines by not wearing gloves during the checkup, the jury divided blame for negligence among Lustig (60%), the clinic and the attending surgeon (39%) and Boulais (1%).

Slaughter said he and his colleagues have not yet decided whether to appeal the verdict or the damages.