Posted 10/08/2004 06:05:00 PM by Douglas

Looks like Amarillo is going to get its wish. Looks like T.T. is headed to Dallas for treatment.

An HIV-positive Amarillo woman will undergo inpatient treatment in Dallas and participate in an outpatient communicable disease program under a court agreement reached Thursday.

The city of Amarillo filed a civil suit last month in 47th District Court against the unidentified woman, claiming she represented a public health threat because she continued to work as a prostitute and refused treatment.

State health officials think the legal action is the first of its kind in Texas.

Under the agreement, the woman, identified only as T.T., will be treated and monitored for as long as 90 days at a Dallas facility designated by the Texas Health Commissioner. The agreement was signed Thursday by the woman, 47th District Judge Hal Miner, Dr. J. Rush Pierce, health authority for the Bi-City-County Health District, and Assistant City Attorney Mike McMillen.

There's something to be said for the path of least resistance, even when you're HIV positive. But I guess we can all be glad it didn't go to trial. It would have been an ugly precedent in an even uglier situation.