Suit alleges police officer divulged waiter's HIV status

A waiter (John Doe) in a Kokomo, IN, restaurant filed suit against city police officer Robert Reynolds for disclosing Doe's HIV status to workers and customers and intentionally inflicting emotional distress. The city is also named in the suit for failing to properly train officers about HIV confidentiality. On several occasions, Reynolds visited the restaurant but would not allow Doe to wait on him because Doe has AIDS. Reynolds' comments and threats regarding AIDS prompted Doe to leave the restaurant. Doe was fired. Numerous scientific documents, including the U.S. Surgeon General's Report of 1988, state that HIV cannot be transmitted through food handling. Doe filed a complaint with the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), charging that the restaurant violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by firing him. Kokomo is the city where the late Ryan White was denied access to public education because of his HIV status.     

Suit alleges insurer illegally caps medical care for HIV

Mutual of Omaha is being sued for artificially capping AIDS-related medical benefits for two Chicago men. The men both have individual health policies with $1 million lifetime coverage; however, AIDS coverage is specifically capped at $25,000 on one policy and $100,000 on the other. The suit alleges that the benefit caps violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Illinois Insurance Code, and are not based on sound actuarial practices. Studies have shown that other medical conditions routinely covered, including pregnancies with complications, cost more than AIDS treatments. The litigation will add to case law the controversial issue of whether insurance policies are covered under the ADA.     

Suit alleges that dental clinic fired hygenist for having HIV

A private Atlanta dental clinic is being sued in Federal court for removing a hygienist after learning he was HIV-positive. The lawsuit alleges that the clinic was afraid of losing business. The hygienist, Spencer Waddell, claims he was told he could no longer treat patients after his doctor notified his employer of his HIV status. He was offered a clerical position at substantially less pay. Although Federal and Georgia statutes allow employers to fire or reassign workers if their disability poses a threat to the health or safety of others, the suit contends Waddell posed no threat. A second lawsuit has been filed against the physician who informed the clinic, charging him with wrongful disclosure of HIV-related information.     

Suit says patient was denied heart surgery because of HIV

George Washington University Hospital and two surgeons are being sued by Ronald Flowers, a patient with HIV who was denied open-heart surgery. The suit alleges that the defendants violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Federal Rehabilitation Act, and the District of Columbia Human Rights Act. These statutes bar places of public accommodation from withholding services based on disability. Flowers had suffered two transient strokes and physicians determined that he had a vegetative growth on his aortic valve. GWU Medical Center's associate professor of surgery and the chief of cardiothoracic surgery concurred that open-heart surgery on an HIV-positive patient posed too great a risk for the surgical team. These physicians recommended anticoagulant drugs and suggested that Flowers find another hospital willing to perform the surgery. Flowers transferred to Washington Hospital Center where the surgery was successfully completed. The lawsuit states that open-heart surgery can be performed on patients with HIV if the surgical team takes proper precautions.     

Suit to proceed over inmate's claim that HIV drugs were denied

U.S. District Judge Gene Carter has ruled that a case can proceed against Prison Health Services Inc., a private health-care contractor for the Cumberland County Jail in Maine. While in jail, David McNally told employees of Prison Health Services that he was on a strict regimen of HIV medications which his physician corroborated. McNally did not receive treatment the 3 days he was in jail and became very ill during that time. Upon his release, he was hospitalized for several days. The judge took issue with the defendant's claim that McNally suffered no serious harm as a consequence of its actions.     

Suit alleges cosmetology school targeted gays for removal

A former executive at the Gordon Phillips School of Beauty Culture has filed a lawsuit alleging that the school identifies employees who have higher than average health-care costs and then initiates a harassment campaign against these employees. According to the executive, Robert Rychalsky, the school president discussed a plan to reduce expenses by decreasing health care insurance benefits. The suit states that the Philadelphia-based company follows a policy of identifying cancer patients and homosexuals and then targets these individuals for harassment and abuse. When Mr. Rychalsky was diagnosed with a brain tumor, he was subjected to a range of tactics that encouraged him to quit, including a barrage of verbal abuse, being barred from meetings of his peers, and an expanded workload. The former executive charges the school and its president with violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Discovery in the litigation has begun, but no trial date has been scheduled.     

Chicago ends demand that job seekers reveal HIV status

The Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund challenged the Chicago Board of Education to revise its policy requiring prospective teachers to disclose their medical condition, including their HIV status. HIV-positive teachers must submit a form detailing their current CD4 cell count, history of opportunistic infections, treatment regimen, and whether the infection was a result of homosexual or heterosexual intercourse, hemophilia, blood transfusion, or intravenous drug use. Lambda's staff attorney Barry Taylor explained that the policy violates Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The Board adopted a new policy that takes much of the ADA into account. Since not all objections were met, negotiations between Lambda and school officials continue.     

Suit will proceed on inmate's claim that drugs were denied

A judge denied summary judgment to a county jail health-care contractor that allegedly refused to provide HIV medications to a pretrial detainee. Prison Health Services Inc., a health service provider at the Cumberland County Jail in Portland, Maine, faces a civil suit brought by an HIV-positive detainee. The plaintiff claims the contractor violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by denying access to his medication. The U. S. District Judge denied an earlier motion for dismissal, allowed the ADA claim to proceed, and rejected a petition for reconsideration after the denial of summary judgment. The arguments and rulings in the case are detailed.     

Making it a federal case. Suit alleges widespread fraud by Columbia, Quorum

A federal whistleblower lawsuit unsealed last week alleges widespread Medicare fraud at two of the nation's largest for-profit hospital companies, Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. and Quorum Health Group--both relatives of Hospital Corporation of America. The case shows how hospitals' legal troubles have spread since the advent of Medicare's prospective payment system in 1984.     

Shared snorkel leads to coerced HIV test, suit alleges

An African-American mother is suing an Illinois clinic and a community center, alleging that they pressured her into having her son tested for HIV and strep throat because he shared a snorkel with a white boy at a public swimming pool. The mother contends that the community center pressured her because the white boy's mother insisted on the tests and threatened to sue the community center. The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois has accused the community center and the clinic that performed the tests of racially motivated discrimination and violations of the state HIV testing and confidentiality laws. Also named in the suit is the doctor who performed the tests.