Graham P E, Harel-Reviv M
Sir Mortimer Davis Jewish General Hospital, Department of Dentistry, Montreal.
J Can Dent Assoc. 1999 Jan;65(1):27-30.
The U.S. Supreme Court confirms that an HIV-seropositive patient is a "handicapped" person even if totally asymptomatic. Hence, the patient is illegally discriminated against if a dentist consequently refuses to treat the person in the same manner in which he or she treats other patients. Canadian dental care providers should be aware of this decision, because it is reasonable to expect that the high-level Canadian courts and the Supreme Court of Canada would follow this U.S. Supreme Court decision. In addition, the U.S. judgment in effect supports judgments in recent Canadian lower court cases.
美国最高法院确认，即使完全没有症状，HIV血清反应呈阳性的患者也属于“残障”人士。因此，如果牙医因此拒绝以治疗其他患者的相同方式治疗该患者，那么该患者就受到了非法歧视。加拿大的牙科护理提供者应该知晓这一判决，因为可以合理预期加拿大的高等法院和加拿大最高法院会遵循美国最高法院的这一判决。此外，美国的这一判决实际上支持了加拿大近期下级法院案件的判决。
