Lesley v. Hee Man Chie

Lesley v. Hee Man Chie,

No. 00-1254 (1st Cir. May 22, 2001)

An HIV-positive patient sued her obstetrician-gynecologist alleging denial of treatment
in violation of anti-discrimination laws. The physician had been the woman’s
gynecologist for over ten years. During a pregnancy, it was discovered that
the patient was HIV-positive. The physician had treated patients with HIV in
his gynecological practice but had never delivered the baby of a woman with
HIV. Feeling that that patient would be better treated by a facility that was
more familiar with the treatment of pregnant HIV patients, he recommended a
transfer. The patient said she wanted to be cared for by her physician and to
deliver her baby at her community hospital. The physician refused to continue
to treat the patient and she went to the recommended facility and delivered
a healthy baby.

The woman claimed that her
physician refused to treat her because of her HIV status. The physician argued
that he was inexperienced with AZT, and that AZT was not available at his hospital,
making transfer the most medically sound decision. The district court granted
summary judgment for the physician.

The United States Court
of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed. The court found that in order to
prove her claim, the woman had to show that she was disabled, that she sought
services from a federally funded entity, that she was otherwise qualified for
those services, and that she was denied those services solely by reason of her
disability. The court found that the woman could not prove that the physician’s
decision to refer her elsewhere “was unreasonable in a way that reveals
it to be discriminatory”and, therefore, summary judgment in the physician’s
favor was appropriate.