Abstract

KIE: The Court of Appeals of Minnesota affirmed an administrative law judge's determination that a dentist, Clausen, was not permitted to refuse treatment to a patient, Beaulieu, when he learned that the patient had tested HIV-positive. The appellate court further held that the dentist's stated reason for denying his services, that the patient could receive proper and safer care from a more knowledgeable and specialized practitioner, was a pretext for discrimination and, therefore, invalid. The patient had brought his claim under Minnesota's Human Rights Act, which guarantees equal treatment of disabled indviduals. The appellate court found that the administrative law judge (ALJ) appropriately classified an asymptomatic HIV-positive individual as disabled and thus eligible to receive the protection of the Human Rights Act. The ALJ further determined correctly that the dentist had not fulfilled his obligations before declining services to the patient in that he neither contacted the patient's physician nor consulted the American Dental Association's guidelines regarding treatment of HIV-positive patients. Clausen's referral of Beaulieu to the local university dental clinic was erroneous because the services the patient requested were within the field of Clausen's dental training and experience.