HIV-positive Utah
man files suit after being denied surgery

An HIV-positive Utah man has filed a lawsuit against two doctors and a Provo medical center after he was refused surgery for an ulcerated toe because he is HIV-positive, the Deseret Morning News reports. Daniel Richardson of Spanish Fork, Utah, filed a civil rights lawsuit against the doctors and HealthSouth Provo Surgical Center after his surgery, which had been scheduled for December 2004, was canceled. According to court documents, one of the doctors who referred Richardson for surgery told the man it had to be canceled because "scrub techs" at the medical center refused to handle the patient and because HealthSouth Provo Surgical Center had a policy against accepting HIV patients. The lawsuit claims the doctors and the medical center violated the Americans With Disabilities Act, which protects HIV-positive people against discrimination. Richardson is seeking unspecified actual and punitive damages. An attorney for HealthSouth Provo says the organization is looking into the complaint.