Opinion ID: 1933547
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Denial of Access to the Psychiatric Unit

Text: The Commission found that petitioner was excluded from the hospital psychiatric unit because the Hospital perceived petitioner to be HIV-infected. This finding is not contested by the Hospital. Such exclusion is not, in itself, a violation of the HRA, if the health care provider can show business necessity for the exclusion, see D.C.Code § 1-2503(a) (1992 Repl.); however, the Hospital made no effort to do so. Accordingly, the Commission ruled that the exclusion of petitioner from the unit violated the HRA and the Hospital does not challenge that ruling. The Commission also concluded, however, that the services and facilities were not denied on the basis of petitioner's sexual orientation. Petitioner challenges that conclusion, alleging that his sexual orientation became a proxy for HIV infection, as far as the doctors were concerned. The evidence discussed in Part III.petitioner's medical history, the testimony of petitioner's attending physicians, and the testimony of the two epidemiology expertssupports a conclusion that the Hospital implemented blood and body fluid precautions based on valid medical concerns, rather than on petitioner's sexual orientation. The same evidence supports the Commission's conclusion that petitioner's exclusion from the psychiatric unit was not based on his sexual orientation, but rather on a combination of factors in his medical history, leading the Hospital to perceive petitioner to be HIV-infected. Moreover, the Director of Consultation Liaison Psychiatry at the Hospital, Dr. Dove, testified that had petitioner's HIV antibody test come back negative, he would have been admitted to the unit. Dr. Lew-is-Hall, an inpatient psychiatrist and instructor at the Hospital, testified that as of 1986, when she began working at the Hospital, homosexual patients were routinely treated in the psychiatric unit. Furthermore, petitioner, himself, testified that the staff informed him that the results of his antibody test would be the determinative factor as to whether he would be transferred to the psychiatric unit. We conclude that this evidence amply supports the Commission's determination that petitioner was not denied access to the unit because of his sexual orientation. Instead, it supports the Commission's conclusion, noted above, that petitioner was denied access based on the staff's perception that he was HIV-infected. Such a denial, as noted, violates the HRA only if the Hospital is unable to establish business necessity. Since no claim or showing of business necessity was made, we affirm the Commission's decision that denial of access was based on the perception of HIV infection, without a showing of business necessity, but not because of petitioner's sexual orientation.