An investigation into the death of a girl who was accidentally shot at a party leads to the discovery that she was HIV+. She and two classmates had slept with the same boy; he later bragged about having AIDS, and said he wanted to infect as many girls as possible. Ross successfully petitions to have medical records unsealed in order to trace the boy, Kenny Stark. One of the girls he infected has already died from AIDS, so he is charged with her murder and several other counts of attempted murder. Concerns arise around the legal principles of patient confidentiality, and the risk of stigmatizing HIV+ people.
Stark's defense successfully gets the case dismissed and Schiff orders McCoy to drop it, but he's determined to appeal. McCoy makes a case for intent with evidence that Stark had taken steps to protect his current girlfriend, yet was about to have unprotected sex with another woman at the time he was arrested. The judge reverses the order to dismiss the case. Stark's lawyer agrees to a deal for manslaughter, but it's too late; he's had to be hospitalized and has only a week or two to live. McCoy and Ross are relieved to learn that Stark's girlfriend has tested negative for HIV.
This episode contains examples of:
- Loving a Shadow: Stark's current girlfriend is too deluded to accept what he's done.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: The clinic worker who refuses to disclose patient records.
- Outliving One's Offspring:
- May is found dead when her parents return from a trip to England.
- Stark's father mentions that he knows he will outlive Stark.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Based on the case of Nushawn Williams, convicted of deliberately infecting several women with HIV.
- Share the Sickness: Stark is an HIV positive man who seeks to give it to as many women as he can before he dies.
- Sophisticated as Hell: McCoy has to read out, with a completely straight face, Stark's words "Hey, no, baby, I don't use rubbers, it's better bareback" in front of the appeals panel.
- Taking You with Me: Stark claims this was his motivation.
- Tragic AIDS Story
- Wild Teen Party: The death of a girl at such a party leads the detectives to Stark.
