Health providers with hepatitis B are covered by disability law

May 7 2013

The Associated Press/Washington Post: Feds: Health Providers With Hepatitis B Are No Threat To Patients, Covered By Disability Law
The U.S. Department of Justice recently declared in a legal settlement that hepatitis B patients are protected by federal disability law. And, separately, federal health officials have issued a revised set of guidelines that make it clear that health care workers and students who carry the hepatitis B virus -; HBV for short -; generally pose little or no risk to patients. Taken together, advocates say, the new health guidelines and the Justice Department settlement remove barriers to practice, handing HBV-positive health professionals and students a pair of powerful tools to combat discrimination (5/5).