Boy who was injected with HIV, mother sue hospital

ST. LOUIS -- The boy whose father injected him with the virus that causes AIDS has sued the father's former employer, BJC Health System and Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

In the lawsuit, filed in St. Louis Circuit Court, the boy, identified as B.J., and his mother, listed as J.J., claim the hospital should have known that Brian T. Stewart was dangerous. It also argues that the hospital should have known that Stewart had lost or kept vials of blood and taken needles, syringes and vial of blood home from work.

The boy and his mother are seeking $1 million.

On Feb. 2, 1992, Stewart smuggled tainted blood into his 11-month-old son's room at St. Joseph Hospital West, in Lake Saint Louis, where the boy was recuperating from a respiratory illness.

Doctors diagnosed the boy with AIDS when he was 5. Treatment has reduced the virus to undetectable levels in B.J.'s blood, but the 14-year-old must take 15 pills per day.

Stewart was convicted of first-degree assault and sentenced to life in prison. He won't be eligible for parole until 2011.