A man left paralyzed by a sexually transmitted disease is entitled to a disability payment from his health insurance company, the B.C. Court of Appeal has decided, dismissing the company's bid to overturn the award.

Randolph Charles Gibbens, 45, contracted herpes simplex virus type-2 after having unprotected sex with three women in January and February 2003.

Gibbens went to his doctor complaining of headaches and muscle pain but the disease wasn't diagnosed. His doctor diagnosed a viral illness and prescribed symptomatic treatment.

Four days later, Gibbens went to a hospital emergency department, complaining of urinary retention, kidney pain and pelvic discomfort. He had been vomiting for two days and was shaky and unco-ordinated. He was diagnosed with urinary retention, possible alcohol withdrawal and epigastric pain.

His health continued to deteriorate until Feb. 23, 2003, when he was left paraplegic. The type-2 herpes virus caused an inflammation of his spinal cord that caused total paralysis from mid-abdomen down.

The accidental disease or dismemberment benefit provided by his union through Co-operators Life Insurance Co. kicked in on Feb. 1. Gibbens's condition wasn't diagnosed until after he was paralyzed.

The insurer appealed a lower court decision awarding Gibbens his $200,000 benefit, but the Appeal Court rejected their claim, ruling the paralysis was unusual, if not "unnatural or extreme," and qualified as a bodily injury under his health plan.

An expert told the court that the infection brought on by the herpes virus happens only once in millions of cases.

Justice Mary Newbury wrote in her ruling: "The question for this court is whether the chambers judge was correct in ruling that Mr. Gibbens's paraplegia was sustained 'directly and independently of all other causes from bodily injuries occasioned solely through external, violent and accidental means' within the meaning of the insurance policy."