Legal, Medical and Governmental Perspective on AIDS as a Disability

• NCJ Number: 116519
• Author(s): B Herman; M Krim; J Parry; H N Turk; H A Wayman; C J Cooper; R B Milch; R S Holzman; N B Weiss
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 56 pages
• Corporate Author: American Bar Assoc.
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Best Practice/State-of-the-Art Review
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: A monograph based on papers from a multidisciplinary ABA panel program and selected articles from the Mental and Physical Disability Law Reporter

Annotation

This monograph on AIDS covers medical and public health positions; public policy questions on governmental responses to the epidemic; legal rights of persons with AIDS; reflections of a man with AIDS; and summaries of key court decisions.

Abstract

Socio-medical perspectives on AIDS include reflections of a man with AIDS who describes the discrimination he faced. The biology of AIDS and the public health issues involved with the disease are described. Seventy-four thousand new diagnoses are expected by 1991 and the epidemiology of AIDS is outlined. While testing for the disease is crucial, the rights and privacy of those tested must be protected. Governmental perspectives include a discussion of the need for national health insurance, hospitalization alternatives, and a challenge to the Justice Department ruling on AIDS. A discussion of the Department's application of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 follows, with a call for a review of current policy. Finally, legal perspectives are addressed, with both public health and individual rights concerns listed. Case law developments concerning AIDS are reviewed, from the U.S. Supreme Court to Federal and State appeals courts.