Document 1944
 DOCN  M94A1944
 TI    A clash of paradigms: development of U.S. law regarding the HIV-infected
       health care worker.
 DT    9412
 AU    Isbell MT; Gay Men's Health Crisis, New York, NY 10011.
 SO    Int Conf AIDS. 1994 Aug 7-12;10(1):416 (abstract no. PD0272). Unique
       Identifier : AIDSLINE ICA10/94370631
 AB    OBJECTIVE: To summarize the development of U. S. law regarding the
       HIV-infected health care worker (HCW). METHODS: Reported and available
       unreported case law regarding HIV-infected HCWs was collected and
       analyzed. RESULTS: Departing from the medical and public health
       consensus in the U.S., courts have largely upheld employment
       restrictions on HIV-infected HCWs, adopting in virtually every case an
       analytic approach motivated by the desire to eliminate the risk of HIV
       transmission. HIV-infected HCWs are most likely to prevail in litigation
       when they are plaintiffs in employment discrimination actions and are
       most vulnerable when they are sued by patients for their failure to
       disclose their HIV infection. CONCLUSIONS: (1) The partial success of
       infected HCWs in anti-discrimination litigation is explicable, at least
       in part, by the nature of federal disability discrimination law, which
       incorporates notions of relative risk; (2) The failure of infected HCWs
       to prevail in informed consent litigation may be explained, at least in
       part, by the emphasis of informed consent doctrine on patient autonomy,
       which largely precludes consideration of systemic costs unrelated to the
       individual patient; (3) The development of the law regarding
       HIV-infected HCWs, which has resulted from an analytic approach focusing
       on discrete legal doctrines rather than on a rational balancing of costs
       and benefits, raises important concerns regarding American reliance on
       the judiciary as a vehicle for development of public policy.
 DE    Health Personnel/*LEGISLATION & JURISPRUD  Human  *HIV Infections
       Informed Consent/LEGISLATION & JURISPRUD  *Prejudice  *Public Policy
       United States  MEETING ABSTRACT

       SOURCE: National Library of Medicine.  NOTICE: This material may be
       protected by Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.Code).