Lets say that a person, any person is AIDS/HIV positive and they are in a position where their duties will require them to be a first responder to a medical assist call or even subdue a disorderly person. Should they notify their employer of this?
I would if I were in that situation.
What would you do even though you could face possible termination from employment?
Possible situation:
The AIDS/HIV person gets a call about a disorderly person and upon contact the person gets out of hand and the situation gets out of control. he attempt to take the disorderly person down but he resists, so now they are on the ground in a wrestling match. they both get scrapes on their hands, and elbows from rough concrete during the scuffle. The Officer’s scratch which is now bleeding comes in contact with the subjects scratch which is also bleeding. Now the disorderly person has just become in contact and possibly exposed to HIV.
Now, who is liable in this situation, the officer or the employer, or both?
The employer. This is something that should be tested fpr in that field. If the employee can get away with not telling, than he is not liable, he is lucky. No one with HIV should be working in a field like that.
MP_handler wrote: good point..but what if they know how to beat the system so the employer does not know they are AIDS/HIV positive? what then?
Oh in that case, I would think it would be some kind of fraud, not to mention the only way to beat it is to use someone elses blodd i guess. That in itself should be illegal. I say ......
Send their fraudulant ass to the slammer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
but what if the person is in the line of public service such as a police officer, firefighter, nurse, or even a EMT. should they be able to keep their job or duty position knowing there is a greater chance of infecting someone compared to a person who is not in a public service capacity such as a truck driver as you mentioned?
excellent, but what if the person is in the line of public service such as a police officer, firefighter, nurse, or even a EMT. should they be able to keep their job or duty position knowing there is a greater chance of infecting someone compared to a person who is not in a public service capacity such as a truck driver as you mentioned?
Whats the difference....
I have a heart attack, cross the medium, and kill them quick...
You wrestle them to the ground and watch them slowly rot for the next ten years...
You asked the question in the format of a public servant, thats Ok... but that same question can be asked for many occupations.... like perhaps an airline polit...
The root question should be... does any one have the right to work if they might endanger the life of another person.... Yes is my answer....unless you can prove to me the person is going to die within the next twenty four hours..
There are plenty of doctors, nurses, EMT, cops with HIV ...Hep A , B...you name it..they got it. They cant be fired for that reason and I dont think they have to disclose any information to their employer.
__________________
"The life given us by nature is short; but the memory of a well-spent life is eternal." -Cicero
I think that employers of high-risk public contact postions should test their employees for infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS. To not do so is to put the general public at risk and clean test results should be a condition of employment. If, however, the employer took the appropriate steps to test their employees on a regular basis and an employee deliberately set out to beat the system....the employee is committing fraud and their employment should be terminated for violating the terms of employment.
If, as in MP's scenario, someone is possibly infected with HIV/AIDS due to the employee deliberately concealing their condition, the employee should be 100% liable.
Unless I'm mistaken, it's a criminal offense in many places for a person with HIV/AIDS to knowingly infect a sexual partner.....is there a difference between that and a first responder to conceal their condition knowing full well that in the course of performing their duties there is a higher risk than average that he/she will infect someone? While the first responder would probably not deliberately set out to infect someone else, they are still putting others at a higher risk for contacting HIV/AIDS.
The thing about HIV/AIDS that sets it apart from other dieases is that unfortunately it is still an insidious, highly contagious, incurable disease.
Put it this way, how would you feel if you were the one who contacted that disease accidentally from someone who was sent to help you? Or conversely, if you were the first responder who inadvertantly infected someone?
__________________
oh yes, you must always satisfy the monkey. Strong and Beautiful smells like a monkey
I understand that a condition of life is that I will eventually die. There is no law or any amount of freedom that can be taking away that will stop this...
In the legal side of this, no one has to disclosse any informati9on to the employer and they CAN NOT be termanated due to a medical probelm. that is covered in the Americans With disablity act law (ADA) Point blank it would be grounds for a law suit and discrmantation.
Personally, it would be exposser but there would need to be an alot of blod to blood contact for the perosn to be infected. so the likely hood of it happening....less the 5%.
Any person can do any job and if they need a reasonable accomadation that is what is called for. As far as telling any employer about a chonic medica;l problem, HIV, HEP abc or what ever, I would not be doing that UNLESS i needed to. disclosse only to who you need to disclose to.
the DOT physical is madated so as to keep the public safe.IE passing out behind the wheel. I have had people with haz mat CDL on my case load, driving under the influance of anything from cocaine to meth. when they get caught they loss untill they produce the certificate then they are mandated to random UAS for about 2 years.
I know of chefs, cops, nurses, a surgerant and a EMT that have fully functioned in the job, all HIV postive. Its a very hard disease to get UNLESS your playing in the high risk catagory.
as for a perosn scrapin with the cops, due to their behaviors they placed themselves there, and the cop did the job. I would think there wou;ld even be grounds for a lawsuit.
oh yes, you must always satisfy the monkey. 
