HIV Positive Patient: Court Ruling on Disability Discrimination
Legal Eagle Eye Newsletter for the Nursing Profession
May 1999
Quick Summary: HIV is a disability. It is unlawful for a health care provider to discriminate against a patient based on the patient’s HIV status.
NEW YORK SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, 1999. The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, recently made a ruling on an HIV-positive patient’s disability discrimination claim.HIV is a disability. Healthcare providers are considered places of public accommodation and cannot discriminate against disabled patients. That is not new.
The court did rule that it is not disability discrimination in an outpatient setting (a dentist’s office) to drape all surfaces that might become contaminated with the patient’s blood, prior to the patient’s arrival. Nor is it disability discrimination, according to the court, to schedule an HIV-positive patient as the last patient of the day so that these special precautions can be taken.
However, it is unlawful discrimination to overcharge an HIV-positive patient for taking extra precautions. Unfortunately, the court’s ruling did not set specific guidelines for what is and is not overcharging an HIV-positive patient. Cerio v. New York State Division of Human Rights, 684 N.Y.S.2d 738 (N.Y. App., 1999).