A Washington Heights doctor faces up to 15 years in prison for allegedly running a $700,000 scam in which he falsely diagnosed his patients with HIV in order to fraudulently bill Medicaid. Suresh Hemrajani, 57, was arraigned today on felony charges of grand larceny, fraud and falsifying business records. According to Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance, Hemrajani would immediately prescribe medications for the patients on their very first visits, and send the bill to Medicaid. The investigation is still ongoing, but prosecutors believe that the patients participated willingly in the scam. more ›

For the first time in the U.S. since AIDS screening began 25 years ago, an organ recipient at a city hospital has contracted HIV from a live donor. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the male kidney donor passed the initial screening, but in between the screening and the donation in 2009, had unprotected sex with another man. Testing on the patient a year after surgery confirmed he or she had contracted HIV. more ›

Earlier this month we noticed some clever New York-specific ads for a condom company we'd never heard of called Sir Richard's. Curious, we looked up its website and found a company with real social conscience cred—for every condom it sells, Sir Richard's plans to give another condom away for free in a developing nation. Also, their condoms are vegan-friendly? Wanting to know how exactly a condom can be vegan-friendly, we called up the company's CEO Mathew Gerson to talk about everything from condom packaging to the HIV pandemic to the classic combination of food and sex. more ›

Hot 97 DJ Cipha Sounds is the latest radio personality to say something dumb on air. During his Friday morning show last week, the deejay told listeners, "The reason I'm HIV negative is because I don't mess with Haitian girls." So, yeah, the Haitian community is not happy, and now they, as well as local leaders, are calling for him to be fired. more ›

When Pope Benedict made those somewhat confusing remarks saying that condoms could be used by male prostitutes to stop the spread of HIV, people thought, "Hey, what about the female sex workers?" Now it turns out that Pope Benedict thinks that the use of condoms by both men and women to prevent AIDS is a-okay! The Vatican spokesman said, "I personally asked the Pope if there was a serious, important problem in the choice of the masculine over the feminine. He told me no... It's the first step of taking responsibility, of taking into consideration the risk of the life of another with whom you have a relationship. ... This is if you're a woman, a man, or a transsexual." more ›

Bronx mom Nadia Maklad took her 3-year-old daughter to Montefiore Medical Center on October 7th because she had a rash, and came home with a child who may have contracted HIV. Maklad was talking with a doctor when her daughter Hailey "came over crying and bleeding from her belly and hand," the Post reports. The girl had gotten pricked with dirty needles that were allegedly left in an open bin on the floor of a clinic, and now she's been "violently ill" from the side effects of the HIV medication. more ›

An 11-year-old boy at Staten Island University Hospital to get stitches had to get emergency HIV testing after a madman ripped an IV out of his arm and sprayed the boy with blood. "The guy was completely unrestrained running with his IV needle swinging and spraying blood," the boy's father told the Daily News. The next day, the boy started an anti-AIDS regimen, and his mom said, "As low as the risk is, it's a possibility and basically that's what the specialist has told us." The blood-spraying man is being tested for HIV, and results are expected tomorrow. And who's terrified of the hospital now? more ›

Yesterday, a convicted sex offender who admitted to having unprotected sex with boys and men ages 16 to 20—while not telling them he had HIV—was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Oceanside resident Robert Musmacker, who knew he was HIV positive since 2005, had pleaded guilty to 25 charges, including reckless endangerment, criminal sex acts and endangering the welfare of a child, and was also sentenced to 15 years of post-release supervision. more ›

GLAAD, the Black AIDS Institute and the National Black Justice Coalition are really not happy with the ladies of "The View," taking out a full page ad in Variety blasting them for their ignorance. On the June 22 episode, Sherri Sheperd and co-host D.L. Hughley said that closeted black men are to blame for increased HIV rates among straight black women. Hughley said, "When you look at the prevalence of HIV in the African American community, it's primarily young women who are getting it from men who are on the down low." But GLAAD and, you know, science disagree. more ›

As every well-bred socialite knows, AIDS is everywhere—floating in the air they breathe, hiding in the bathrooms they use, and coursing through the veins of their domestic servants. That's why Dana Hammond, an heiress to the Annenberg family fortune, wanted her "executive Polish housekeeper" to get tested for H.I.V. Hammond herself got an H.I.V. test after she sat on a seemingly "unclean" toilet seat, so why shouldn't she require her servant to get tested, too? But for simply trying to keep those little AIDS bugs from jumping off the help and onto her bedding, she's being sued. more ›

Colombo crime family underboss John "Sonny" Franzese has been on trial for the usual mob standbys—racketeering conspiracy, robbery, extortion, narcotics trafficking, and loansharking—and the 93-year-old has been enduring ignominies such as his wife refusing to let him go to the bathroom and his own son testifying against him. Which might have been why he fell asleep, because it was too much excitement. But Franzese's defense woke him up when the lawyer dropped a bomb: That John Jr. has HIV. more ›

The New York State Department of Education syllabus says that a teacher instructing students about STDs and sex should encourage children to use words they understand. "If students use different terms," the syllabus says, "make sure they understand the relationship between both sets of terms." So during a class on HIV one day in 2008, Staten Island health teacher Faith Kramer did just that, writing down the clinical words for sexual organs, sexual acts and bodily fluids on the chalkboard, then asking the eighth grade students what language they used to talk about such matters. That's when the trouble started. more ›

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office is attempting to block the release of a Brooklyn man who knowingly infected over a dozen females with HIV. Nushawn Williams, who has served a maximum sentence of 12 years, was scheduled to be freed from prison yesterday, but the NY Times reports, "Mr. Cuomo’s office is seeking to keep him in custody under a three-year-old state law that permits the civil confinement of sex offenders." more ›

In sight of dangerously low levels at the city’s blood banks, some NY politicians want to lift a federal ban on blood donation by gay males. Ever-resourceful U.S. Rep. Anthony Wiener said today that the regulation, which was put into place in 1983 for gay men, regardless of whether they were HIV positive, is outdated, ignorant and due for repeal. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and 18 other U.S. senators are also not afraid of catching something, reports the AP. The FDA fired back: "while FDA appreciates concerns about perceived discrimination, our decision to maintain the deferral policy is based on current science and data." It added that the "hemophilia community" opposes changing the policy. more ›

After getting a $6 million bail-out from the state—enough to hold it over until it had made “a decision about whether to file for bankruptcy"—St. Vincent’s hospital is slowing to a stop. It’s used the loan to settle employees’ salaries and other costs, but the conversation at a meeting on Friday suggested that there’s not enough to make it into next week. To buy more time, the Greenwich Village landmark facility would need $20 million, so one by one its eliminating its programs and services. more ›

A nationwide ban that has kept HIV-positive travelers from visiting the United States since 1987 will come to an end today when Hugo Bausch and Clemens Ruland are expected to arrive in the city from the Netherlands. Last fall, President Obama reversed the policy and stated it was "rooted in fear, rather than fact," according to the Huffington Post. The regulation, which many derided as discriminatory, separated families and turned members of the scientific community against the United States, according to the Daily News. Ruland, who will be landing at Kennedy Airport today, wrote in an essay: "Free to travel, to hug, share, love and once more be united . . . Alive and proud . . . I turn to you, America. America, here I come; Come as I am." Foreigners with HIV are still barred from visiting about a dozen other countries. more ›

In a snafu with near-fatal consequences, Harlem Hospital erroneously informed a 54-year-old married woman that she had terminal HIV, hepatitis and herpes. Maria Osorio, 54, of Passaic, was at the hospital to take advantage of a $15 mammogram screening on Valentine's Day last February when a nurse offered a free instant cheek swab and blood test. The results came back positive for HIV, sending Osorio into a suicidal tailspin and nearly destroying her marriage of 37 years. "I wanted to throw myself on the subway tracks," she tells the Post. And her husband, Gabriel Lezcano, 60, who works as a janitor in New Jersey, was really in the dog house: more ›

Today is World AIDS Day, and while there are many events planned around the city, there is currently a 24-hour vigil at City Hall, with volunteers reading of the names of people who had been lost to HIV or AIDS at City Hall. And just now, during Mayor Bloomberg annual breakfast at Gracie Mansion in honor World AIDS Day, 10 Housing Works activists were arrested for protesting outside. more ›

Doctors at St. Vincent's Hospital exposed a Washington Heights woman to the HIV virus when they used dirty medical equipment, a lawsuit alleges. more ›

Demonstrators putting together a display of baby dolls on the steps of City Hall yesterday in recognition of National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day struggled in their attempts to track down a balance of racially mixed dolls. The Times says that having a mix was important because about 90 percent of women living with HIV in New York City are black and Hispanic and an even higher percentage when it comes to new HIV infections in teenage females. But that wasn't easy to convey for members of the Gay Men's Health Crisis who helped organize it. One member said, “A few people who purchased dolls found it very hard to find brown or black baby dolls. I went to three 99-cent stores and couldn’t find any. Another colleague went to four stores. What is that about?” The paper points out that American Girl and Dora dolls (not to mention Homies) have gone a long way to diversifying what used to just include "Barbies dipped in color." Word is that Dora is about to get a sexy new makeover and there are now Sasha and Malia dolls—but not to be confused with the Obamas of course. more ›

Former Mets second baseman and perennial All-Star throughout the '90s has called the lawsuit filed against him by his ex-girlfriend "full of lies." The suit filed by longtime girlfriend Ilya Dahl claims that he insisted on having unprotected sex with her while having "full-blown AIDS." His lawyer called it "a frivolous lawsuit," but that Alomar wishes to keep his health status private. In Alomar's own statement, he called it a "private, personal matter" and added, "I am in very good health and I ask that you respect my privacy during this time." more ›

According to the temperance scolds over at the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, you are a binge drinker if you consume more than five alcoholic beverages during one occasion. We always thought that just means you're a New Yorker, but apparently drinkers nationwide go on crazy, multi-drink "binges" just as much as we do here. A study released today finds that 15% of New Yorkers cop to "binging" at least once a month, compared to 16% nationwide. more ›

An unidentified female NYPD officer with HIV, named Jane Doe in court papers, is suing the city for denying her the tax-free "line-of-duty" disability benefits awarded to other male cops with HIV. Court papers obtained by the Daily News reveal that four male officers have been granted the full, tax-free benefits after contracting HIV in the line of duty: One who reached into a perp's underwear to retrieve drugs, another who was bitten on the hands, and a third who was cut by a razor blade while frisking a suspect. It's not known how the fourth cop contracted HIV, but he was the ex-boyfriend of Jane Doe, and the pension board ruled she was not infected in the line of duty. Instead, she was granted an ordinary disability pension along with eight other HIV-infected officers who were denied the tax-free pension. more ›

Having to go on dialysis is bad enough, but patients who received their treatment at Life Care Dialysis Center on West 61st Street have it even worse; at least one of them contracted Hepatitis C thanks to contaminated equipment! After inspecting the place last month, the Health Department shut it down, noting that employees failed to wash their hands, disinfect equipment or change gloves between patients. A spokesperson for the DOH tells the Times, “It was repulsive. The treatment chairs that they gave people to relax in had someone else’s dried blood on them.” On Monday the state’s health commissioner sent letters to 657 patients of the clinic urging them to get tested for hepatitis C, hepatitis B and H.I.V. Dr. Walter Wasser, the clinic’s operator and medical director, was fined $300,000 and could also lose his medical license, the Times reports. more ›

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On the heels of announcing 40% of New Yorkers practice unsafe sex, the Department of Health wants to test every adult in the Bronx for HIV over the next three years. Noting the borough's highest AIDS-related death rate in the city, Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden said, "The Bronx has the opportunity to lead the city in the fight against HIV/AIDS by being the first borough to have all residents tested." more ›

The Dept. of Health is looking into why hundreds of New Yorkers were informed that they tested positive for HIV infection after an oral exam, when in fact they were HIV negative. The non-infected status was determined by a follow-up blood test that was administered immediately. Still--pretty scary. The State Health Dept. and the CDC are investigating why the OraSure mouth swab tests resulted in an approximate 50% false-positive rate (The FDA's allowable false-positive rate for HIV tests is 2%). The Health Dept. reported that it has suspended use of OraSure as an HIV-infection detector. more ›

Kids who weren't even born when AIDS was an epidemic that ravaged the American gay and IV drug-using communities are apparently oblivious to the potential toll it can take on its generation. New York City's Dept. of Health reported that the number of HIV infections among city high schoolers (between the ages of 13 and 19) rose 29% between 2004 and 2006. Current figures are not yet available, but Rep. Anthony Weiner is proposing a program to curb the spread of the virus. more ›

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Yesterday we mentioned that a cache of weapons - including a number of pipe bombs - were found in a Remsen Street apartment in Brooklyn Heights. Now it turns out the apartment was shared by an ex-con and a professor at Columbia University! more ›