HIV-Positive Surgical Patient Can Sue For Disability Discrimination, Court Says
Legal Eagle Eye Newsletter for the Nursing Profession
May 1996
Because the patient was HIV-positive the surgeon insisted on delaying the surgery until the hospital provided special protective suits for himself and the rest of the surgical team. According to the court, these special protective suits were in excess of then-current recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control for adequate protection of operating room personnel performing surgery on known HIV-positive patients.
The patient was scheduled for surgery to remove surgical hardware from one of his legs. The hardware had previously been implanted for injuries from an automobile accident which had necessitated, among other things, below-the-knee amputations of both legs.
The immediate problem was a diagnosis of osteomylitis, for which an orthopedist decided to perform surgery to take out the hardware which was determined to be causing the problem.
The surgeon conditioned his willingness to perform the surgery on the hospital providing protective gear in excess of the CDC’s recommendations. The court ruled that in doing so, the surgeon committed a violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act, insofar as the Act prohibits any "place of public accommodation" from discriminating against disabled individuals on the basis of their disabilities.
The U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania interpreted the Americans With Disabilities Act to permit an HIV-positive surgical patient to file suit for disability discrimination, under the set of circumstances presented in a recent case. A healthcare provider or facility is a place of public accommodation, and an HIV-positive patient is a disabled individual, as the Americans With Disabilities Act is to be interpreted, according to the court. Sharrow vs. Bailey, 910 F. Supp. 187 (M.D. Pa., 1995).
More references from nursinglaw.com
http://www.nursinglaw.com/hivtest2.htm
http://www.nursinglaw.com/hivtest3.htm
http://www.nursinglaw.com/hivstatus2.htm
http://www.nursinglaw.com/hivstatus3.htm