Two Liberal Democrat MPs have been accused of insulting a man with HIV after he emailed them to attack the coalition's NHS reforms.
In an email sent to Lib Dem MPs, Andrew Schofield, 48, said they had "betrayed the British people" by supporting the NHS bill and would be punished by the electorate.
"As you walk away from public office I hope you hangs your miserable heads in shame, and take your shame for consenting to this ugly despicable act to your graves," he wrote.
"You may try to justify your actions but your arguments will fall on deaf ears. We expected this of the Tories but not of you. We expected more from the Lib Dems. You have all signed your own party's death warrant."
He also attacked gay MPs for supporting the bill which he believed would lead to HIV patients having to pay for medication.
"As for the gay MPs amongst you, speaking as a gay man myself living with HIV and with no assurances that I will not have to pay for the medication that keeps me alive in the future, how naive I was in believing that all gay people have compassion, have a deep rooted sense of humanity and a desire to protect the most vulnerable and those at the margins of society," he said.
He added: "You DISGUST me."
His email drew an angry response from Bristol West MP Stephen Williams and Hazel Grove MP and communities minister Andrew Stunell.
"Take a careful look at your own email, and consider just how counterproductive it is likely to be to send an unsolicited bar-room rant to a load of very busy people at the end of a long day," Stunnell replied. "Particularly when, even after careful inspection, it has proved impossible to find any facts attached to it."
Stunnell defended the health reforms and said the coalition was spending "more money in real terms year on year on the NHS" and insisted that "no-one wants a privatised NHS" including him.
While Williams told Schofield his email was "complete drivel" and there was not "even the slightest hint that the Bill would lead to people having to pay for treatment for long term conditions, whether HIV or anything else".
"As one of the party’s MPs who happens to be gay I find your assertion that ANY of my colleagues would countenance such a proposal to be grossly offensive." he said.
He added: "You win the prize for my most nonsensical email of the day".
Williams told The Huffington Post UK that he had no regrets about his reply.
"Of all the scaremongering stories about the health bill that's the most ludicrous I've been sent. There is no risk whatsoever of anyone with a long-term condition being charged for it," he said.
"He told me that as a gay MP I should hang my head in shame, well actually as a gay MP I find what he was saying completely offensive. It's a ludicrous scare story being circulated.
"This is the idiocy of the internet, where nonsense gets circulated and gets given currency it doesn't deserve. What this government has done is actually make it easier for many people with HIV to get treatment. What he has said goes against the grain of what the government's doing."
Schofield, from Salford, has reportedly raised the “unacceptable and insulting language” with the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards which oversees MPs conduct.
Rachael Maskell, from the Unite union, which opposes the coalition's Health and Social Care Bill, accused the MPs of "mocking patients".
"The intemperate tone of these MPs’ language is to be deplored when a member of the public is concerned over the very sensitive issue of their future health prospects," she said.
The row comes as Lib Dems gather in Gateshead for their Spring conference where the NHS reforms are expected to be at the top of the agenda.