ABA RESPONDS TO AIDSAuthor(s): BARRY SULLIVANSource: ABA Journal, Vol. 74, No. 6 (JUNE 1, 1988), p. 128Published by: American Bar AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20759974 .

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YOUR ABA

ABA RESPONDS TO AIDS BY BARRY SULLIVAN

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) was first described in the medical literature in 1981. Three years later, a wide range of le gal issues involving AIDS emerged in our nation's courts.

For example, litigants asked courts to decide whether:

a board of education may allow a child with AIDS to attend public school;

an AIDS patient's estate may discover the names of individual blood donors thought to be the source of the patient's AIDS infection;

a former employee with AIDS may bring an employment discrimi nation suit under a state's fair em ployment practice act.

The legal issues raised by AIDS span virtually every area of law. Sev eral ABA projects are helping law yers and judges meet this challenge.

Formed last year, the AIDS Co ordinating Committee serves as a clearinghouse for ABA activities re lated to AIDS and is developing rec ommendations for ABA policy.

The committee members repre sent ABA sections and divisions and other interested organizations. The committee works with individual ABA entities in developing AIDS-re lated programs and is planning an in formative newsletter on these activities.

In March the committee began holding hearings on the impact of AIDS. The first hearings focused on issues in education, employment and health. Future topics include immi gration, housing and criminal law.

Drawing on these hearings, the committee will develop policy rec ommendations to bring to the House of Delegates in 1989. The committee is planning a showcase program for the annual meeting this summer.

Two projects address the critical need for judicial education on AIDS.

The National Conference of Spe cial Court Judges plans a conference on AIDS for state and federal judges in October 1988. The conference will feature experts in law, medicine and

Picture Group/Morio Ruiz

Testing for AIDS raises confidentiality and privacy issues.

government. Topics will include epi demiology, protection and privacy is sues in the courtroom, and legal issues in AIDS-related litigation.

Cosponsors of the program are the National Conference of State Trial Judges, National Conference of Ad ministrative Law Judges and the Lawyers' Conference.

To expand judicial education op portunities, the Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities and the National Judicial College are devel

oping a Judicial AIDS Education project.

Beginning in 1989, the College plans to offer AIDS-related courses as part of its residential programs for special and general jurisdiction judges. Also planned is a special ses sion on AIDS and other biomedical issues.

Another component of the Ju dicial AIDS Education project will bring training programs to the states. The state module will cover both le gal issues and AIDS-related judicial administrative issues. The project's third component is an AIDS bench book.

Other ABA entities also are pro ducing educational programs and materials. The Section of Tort and In surance Practice and the Division for Professional Education held a Na tional Institute, "From AIDS to Torts:

Workplace Remedies/' in March. The program examined rights, remedies and defenses arising from exposure to AIDS and other health problems.

Last year the Commission on the Mentally Disabled published a useful monograph, Legal, Medical and Governmental Perspectives on AIDS as a Disability. Based on a program at the 1986 annual meeting, this monograph also includes materials from the Mental and Physical Dis ability Law Reporter.

Only if lawyers and judges are prepared to understand the issues sur rounding AIDS can our legal system respond to this crisis ethically, consti tutionally, and compassionately.

These programs are supported by your gifts to the ABA Fund for Justice and Education:

AIDS Coordination Project. Project director: Pat Davidson, (202) 331-2248.

National Conference on AIDS (National Conference of Special Court Judges, Judicial Administration Division). Project director: Myra Sue Moglowsky, (312) 988-5697.

Judicial AIDS Education Project (Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities). Project director: Pat Davidson, (202) 331-2248.

National Institute (Section of Tort and Insurance Practice and the Division for Professional Education). For information contact Professional Education, (312) 988-6200. j

AIDS monograph (Commission on the Mentally Disabled). Project director: John Parry, (202) 331-2240. Barry Sullivan chairs the AIDS

Coordinating Committee.

138 ABA JOURNAL / JUNE 1, 1988

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