Patients and Families Living with HIV/AIDS

Abstract:     
This book is the first of its kind to comprehensively describe the role of law and lawyers in helping to address and mitigate social disparities in health care in a variety of settings. It is designed as both a teaching tool and a resource for those interested in medical-legal partnership. Professor Deborah Weimer co-authored Chapter 13, Patients and Families Living with HIV. This Chapter describes the relationship between HIV, social determinants of health such as poverty, race and sexual orientation, and the law. It describes how an effective medical legal partnership has and can address the many barriers to care faced by people living with HIV. It describes legal protections that have been enacted to protect individuals and families impacted by HIV, that at the same time can play a role in encouraging people to be tested for HIV. It describes the many ways in which lawyers and medical providers can work together for the benefit of the patient in addressing discrimination issues on the job, appealing denials of public benefits, or planning for end of life care and the care of children. It includes case examples and discussion questions for use in a classroom setting

Keywords: poverty, race, sexual orientation, medical-legal partnership, families, health care

Accepted Paper Series