HIV-positive Reverend Settles Suit With Retirement Home

HIV is like a common cold. As long as you're Magic Johnson.To all of us who are positive stay strong and don’t let anyone put you down, life is not a rehearsal it is here and now so live the best way you can. Check out http://PositiveFishes.com, You can know many inspirational story here!You are not alone.

As a nurse there is not difference in care for most patients. Everyone and I mean EVERYONE we are to use Universal Precatuions. Which means we wash our hands or foam going in and out of rooms, if we are examing a patient we use gloves. If we change a dressing and exam a patient we change gloves between the two etc etc etc There are times when we do put gowns and masks on and it is not for HIV only patients. It is to help prevent the spread of disease from patient to patient. This facility didn't have a leg to stand on. They should be ashamed of themself and the state really needs to investigate their license. Obviously their staff is not well trained.

I could not agree more with your feedback as I had certainly over-embellished the amount of care required to support a patient with Alzheimer's in comparison to an HIV patient. However, the point still remains, the staff and facility must be equipped to support a patient with HIV as with many other diseases which emerge at older stages of ones life. On that note, I do not believe that the majority of facilities are equipped or have a staff that is sufficiently trained to handle HIV or many other elderly conditions which can emerge during an emergency situation to ensure the safety of those involved, so with other elderly conditions including HIV, the facility should have the right to determine if they are capable of handling this type of situation. If not, the patient should not be permitted, and if so, then they should evaluate and modify their organization to handle this type of event.

FWIW, amrdxb, MY grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's some 25 years ago and I had several good friends who were HIV+. Not too surprisingly, my friends were able to hold down jobs and pretty much carry on with their lives following their diagnoses while my grandmother had to be under constant medical care and supervision following hers. (Before she was diagnosed, my grandmother was in pretty fair health for a woman in her early 70s.)

@amrdxb: Perhaps the reason is that Alzheimer's is a far different condition than HIV. MOST HIV+ patients don't cause any more trouble than a patient who suffers from diabetes or a heart condition in that their conditions can be controlled to a very large degree with medication. Currently, however, there is no medication that is approved to treat Alzheimer's once it's been diagnosed beyond a certain stage (and even the meds that are approved for Alzheimer's depend on a VERY early diagnosis for even minimal efficacy). Yes, HIV+ patients (or, in this case, residents) might require some special planning/handling if there's a medical emergency but, hopefully, the medical staff would be using accepted practices for ALL the residents needing emergency care, regardless of HIV status.

Sorry, i meant to print "Alzheimer's". Regarding the post below.

Why would this be shameful? Why should HIV be considered any different than many other disorders in which the staff does not have the capacity or capability to safely secure the safety of others in the center. My grandmother could not live in many places due to her disabilities with altimeters; why should HIV be treated any different? Sounds like pretty shameful on behalf of the reverend.

I grew up in Arkansas, and shamefully...I am not surprised.

To think I used to live in LR. Shame on them. It is difficult to believe that this kind of discrimination still exists.

It's 2010 and this still happens; unbelievable