FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 19, 1997

GLAD Sues Leominster Obstetrician

GLAD Sues Leominster Obstitrician for Refusal to Provide Prenatal Care to HIV-Positive Pregnant Woman

(BOSTON, MA) The AIDS Law Project of Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) filed a disability discrimination lawsuit today in Worcester Superior Court against a Leominster, MA obstetrician/gynecologist, Hee Man Chie, M.D., for terminating a patient’s prenatal care after he learned that the patient had tested positive for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, a doctor may not automatically refer a patient to another medical facility simply because the patient is HIV-positive unless the doctor does not have the capability or specialization to provide the required services.

In this case, plaintiff Vickie Lesley, currently of Fitchburg, MA, became pregnant in November, 1994. From November, 1994 until approximately March, 1995, Ms. Lesley received prenatal obstetric care from Dr. Chie, who had been Ms. Lesley’s obstetrician/gynecologist for ten years. In March, 1995, at the suggestion of Dr. Chie, Ms. Lesley agreed to be tested for HIV. When the test results came back positive for HIV, Dr. Chie refused to continue to provide prenatal care to Ms. Lesley solely because of her HIV-positivity.

Dr. Chie would not prescribe for Ms. Lesley the medication AZT, a standard, approved treatment which reduces the risk of HIV transmission from a mother to a child during pregnancy and childbirth. The administration of AZT for a pregnant woman consists of a simple prescription for oral AZT at set dosages already established and recommended by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These established dosages were provided to every obstetrician in Massachusetts by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in 1994. AZT is also administered intravenously during childbirth. A licensed obstetrician/gynecologist, without any further specialization, is able to provide basic prenatal care to an HIV-positive pregnant woman, including the administration of AZT. Dr. Chie, however, told Ms. Lesley that because she was HIV-positive, she must automatically go to a “high risk” clinic to receive her prenatal care.

According to GLAD’s AIDS Law Project Director, Bennett H. Klein, who represents the plaintiff, “People with HIV are still stigmatized in this society. If people fear that they will automatically be turned away from a doctor’s office because they are HIV-positive, they will not agree to be tested for HIV, will not voluntarily disclose HIV status to a health care provider, and will not receive important health and prevention services necessary to educate people about how to prevent HIV transmission to others. Discrimination against people with HIV in access to health care is intolerable and impedes public health efforts to fight the epidemic.”

Ms. Lesley added, “I trusted this doctor to test me for HIV. I never thought that he would then refuse to continue my care. I wanted to deliver my first child in the community in which I lived and worked and had the support of friends and colleagues which was so important after having learned that I was HIV-positive.”

Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders is a New England-wide public interest legal organization which litigates cases to expand the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and people living with HIV.