A nurse died more than seven years after contracting HIV while taking blood from a patient, it has emerged.
The needle slipped and pricked nurse Juliet Young's thumb as she took blood from the infected patient at south London's Maudsley psychiatric hospital.
Ms Young developed Aids and died of pneumonia in January last year, aged 42, Southwark Coroner's Court heard.
A South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust spokesman said: "This is a tragic and unusual incident."
The Scottish-born nurse was carrying out a non-emergency blood test in the hospital's Lishman Unit, which treats patients with brain injuries, at the time of the June 1999 accident.
Although Ms Young was wearing gloves at the time, she was diagnosed with HIV shortly afterwards and went on to develop Aids.
'Adequate procedures'
A verdict of accidental death was recorded on Tuesday.
The NHS trust's spokesman described Ms Young as "a valued member of staff".
He added: "We are confident that the trust has, and continues to have, adequate safety procedures in place for dealing with sharps injuries."
The Health Protection Agency said there had only been five reported cases of UK healthcare workers contracting HIV from patients, the last of which was in 1999.
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