The law and ethics in relation to dentists treating HIV-positive patients: two recent court cases

Two recent Canadian judgements regarding the application of human rights legislation to dentistry and HIV-seropositive patients are summarized and discussed. In the Ontario case of Jerome v. DeMarco, the Ontario Human Rights tribunal found that seropositivity constitutes a "handicap" under human rights legislation. However, the tribunal dismissed the claim by a seropositive patient that he had been illegally discriminated against by a dentist who, on learning the patient was seropositive, delayed treating him until the end of the day. This decision served as a precedent in the lengthy Quebec small claims court judgment of Hamel v. Malaxos. In this case, the dentist was held to have violated Quebec human rights legislation by trying to refer an HIV-seropositive patient to a hospital treatment centre rather than performing the appropriate dental treatment himself. Court judgments regarding this problem are reported and discussed.