Boston Medical Center can refuse to supply life-saving remedy to a HIV affected person who gained’t put on a masks at his appointments, a decide has dominated.
Suffolk Superior Court Judge Diane Freniere denied the bid from the unnamed HIV affected person, who has been suing the hospital and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health over the COVID face masks requirement.
The HIV affected person was asking the decide to order the hospital to not implement the masks requirement, and to make BMC resume his HIV remedy, which incorporates refilling a prescription of anti-retroviral drugs. If the HIV affected person doesn’t get these drugs, he’ll quickly develop AIDS, his legal professional argues within the lawsuit.
After the courtroom held a listening to on the affected person’s request for a brief restraining order, the decide rejected John Doe’s plea — writing that BMC can be violating the state’s masks coverage and its personal an infection management insurance policies in the event that they let the maskless affected person get remedy.
“Doing so would place the BMC healthcare providers and other patients, particularly the immunocompromised patients seeking care in BMC’s Center for Infectious Diseases, at an increased risk for infection,” Freniere wrote within the denial.
The HIV affected person’s lawyer, Ilya Feoktistov, advised the Herald that the decide’s determination was “shocking” and “cruel.”
The affected person has “experienced negative medical symptoms” from carrying masks, the legal professional argued within the lawsuit. That included feeling anxious and as if he couldn’t get a full breath of air, itchy eyes, and his airway burned, the lawyer mentioned. The affected person additionally developed a rash the place the masks touched the pores and skin of his face, he added.
There might be a listening to on the affected person’s movement for a preliminary injunction in January, however Feoktistov mentioned he’s “not optimistic.”
“Because frankly, there needs to be a major paradigm shift in government about all these things, the balancing of risk and about patients’ rights,” the lawyer mentioned. “They’ve taken a complete 180 when it comes to the rights of the hospital versus the rights of the patient.”
Delaying HIV remedy places sufferers at increased danger for transmitting HIV to their companions, getting sick, and creating AIDS, based on the CDC.
Will the affected person take into account making an attempt on a masks once more?
“No, he’s not going to back down,” Feoktistov mentioned.
BMC mentioned in an announcement in regards to the lawsuit, “Boston Medical Center has an obligation as a hospital to safeguard the health of our patients, staff and visitors. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health requires masking in the hospital for safety, and an exemption can be requested for specific medical reasons. The plaintiff declined BMC’s offer of a telehealth appointment for evaluation of an exemption to the mask requirement.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”
