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Cases: HIV/AIDS

Although the face of the HIV/AIDS epidemic has changed dramatically since GLAD founded its AIDS Law Project in 1984, the need for strong legal protections is as critical as ever.

Shaw v. Murphy

Victory • 2008

On February 19, 2008, the Massachusetts Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Ashley Shaw, who has sought to get MassHealth to cover her medically necessary HIV-related surgery. When Ashley was 15, her doctors recommended… Read More

Commonwealth v. Smith

Loss • 2003

In 2000, GLAD filed a brief in a Middlesex Superior Court criminal action on behalf of a person with HIV who had been charged by Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley with assault with intent to… Read More

Commonwealth v. Landry

Victory • 2002

In a major victory for public health programs that stem the tide of HIV and hepatitis C, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled on December 6, 2002 that needle exchange program participants may lawfully possess needles… Read More

Waddell v. Valley Forge Dental Associates

Loss • 2002

GLAD filed a friend of the court brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to decide the case of an HIV-positive dental hygienist who was fired after his doctor revealed his HIV status to his employer.… Read More

Doe v. Roe Physicians

Victory • 2002

GLAD settled a case against a doctor who refused to provide in-office care to a patient with HIV, after the New Hampshire Commission for Human Rights found probable cause to believe that unlawful discrimination had… Read More

Lesley v. Hee Man Chie

Loss • 2001

In a disappointing decision, the United States Court of Appeals in Boston upheld a US District Court’s ruling that a Leominster, MA obstetrician did not violate disability anti-discrimination laws when he refused to continue care… Read More

Dahill v. Boston Police Department

Victory • 2001

In this case, in May 2001, the Mass. Supreme Judicial Court ruled that Massachusetts law prohibits discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations against individuals whose disability has been corrected or mitigated by medications or… Read More

Doe v. Managed Care Organization

Victory • 2001

In the first legal ruling of its kind in the country, GLAD prevailed in an action to cover the cost of a life-saving liver transplant for a Medicaid recipient with both HIV and end-stage liver… Read More

Doe v. MetLife Disability Insurance and Raytheon

Victory • 2001

GLAD, with co-counsel Stephen Rosenfeld and Mala Rafik, won the restoration of disability insurance benefits when an insurer wrongfully terminated coverage for a client with HIV who remained too debilitated by advanced HIV and significant… Read More

Jane Doe v. Roe Moving Company

Victory • 2001

GLAD won a favorable settlement in a case filed at the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) against a central Massachusetts moving company that refused to provide moving services to a mother and her son, upon… Read More

Commonwealth v. Ortiz

Victory • 2000

A single justice of the Supreme Judicial Court issued an opinion strongly affirming the absolute privacy of a person’s HIV status under Massachusetts law. In this case, in which GLAD filed a friend of the… Read More

Doe v. Board of Registration of Cosmetology

Victory • 2000

GLAD obtained clarification from the Board of Registration of Cosmetology that an individual completing a cosmetology program does not fail the statutory requirement to be certified as free from infectious diseases, simply by virtue of… Read More

Doe and Doe v. Department of Social Services

Victory • 2000

GLAD negotiated an agreement with the Department of Social Services that it was an error for the Department to allow only HIV-positive children to be placed in foster care with an HIV-positive couple.

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Doe v. Nashua Housing Authority

Victory • 2000

GLAD won a change in the practice of the Nashua Housing Authority, which had been illegally demanding private medical information about individuals living in subsidized housing. 

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Lambert v. MetLife Insurance Company

Victory • 1999

GLAD won the restoration of disability insurance benefits for a Portland man suffering from disabling fatigue where the insurer sought to rely on mere stabilization from new medications to terminate benefits

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Doe v. Maine Correctional Center

Victory • 1999

GLAD succeeded in obtaining proper medical care and medications for an HIV-positive prisoner denied even access to a doctor knowledgeable about HIV. 

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Doe v. Roe Hospital

Victory • 1999

GLAD successfully resolved a lawsuit against a hospital that violated the HIV testing and confidentiality statute by revealing a patient’s HIV status to his employer. 

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Bragdon v. Abbott

Victory • 1998

In its first case addressing HIV, the United States Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Bragdon v. Abbott that the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against people living with HIV, whether or not… Read More

Gavann v. Douglas Wooldridge, M.D.

Victory • 1996

GLAD obtained a $10,000 judgment in Suffolk Superior Court against a surgeon who illegally tested a patient for HIV without his knowledge or consent.

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AIDS Services for the Monadnock Region v. Town of Gilsum

Pending

GLAD filed suit September 24, 2008 in Keene Superior Court on behalf of AIDS Services for the Monadnock Region (ASMR), which operates a group home in Gilsum for people with HIV and Hepatitis C. The… Read More

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