The Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, recently upheld a male home health aide’s gender discrimination lawsuit against his former employer’s policy of allowing both male and female aides to care for male clients, while only female aides were assigned to care for female clients. The court ruled that an employer’s policy of completely excluding males from caring for females is unlawful gender discrimination.

   A healthcare employer is permitted to a limited extent to honor specific requests from patients of either sex for same-sex caregivers. These requests may be honored if, and only if, the care to be given is of a sensitive personal nature. The court gave examples where a patient’s request for a same-sex caregiver can be honored: assisting the patient to the commode, cleansing the patient’s perineal area and caring for a urinary catheter.

   Although not stated in so many words, the court probably would not approve honoring a patient’s request for a same-sex caregiver to pass medications, change a dressing, hang an IV, assist with ambulation, or other patient care which does not involve intimate personal privacy.