U.S. Alleges Bias to AIDS Patients by 2 Dental Offices : Courts: Action is first of its kind. Reno says the civil rights suits are intended to send a message that such prejudice will not be tolerated.

In the first action of its kind, the Justice Department on Monday filed civil rights lawsuits against two dental offices for refusing to treat patients infected with the AIDS virus.

Atty. Gen. Janet Reno said the action is intended to send a strong signal to the medical community that the government will not tolerate discrimination against AIDS patients and those infected with the human immunodeficiency virus that causes the condition.

“Such discrimination is based on unfounded fear and factual misunderstandings,” Reno said in announcing the action. “There is no medical or legal justification for discrimination against HIV-positive individuals, especially in health care.”

The suits--against a dentist in New Orleans and a dental chain in Houston--stemmed from 24 investigations by the Justice Department of AIDS-related complaints filed under the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The law, which took effect in January, 1992, bars discrimination against individuals with disabilities, including those infected by the AIDS virus.

The action drew praise from the medical community and AIDS organizations.

Both the American Dental Assn. and the American Medical Assn. have ethical guidelines requiring qualified physicians and dentists to treat all patients, regardless of the diseases they are carrying.

“You cannot abandon a patient,” said Dr. M. Roy Schwarz, chairman of the AIDS task force for the AMA, which represents roughly half of the nation’s physicians. “Most doctors have responded appropriately but not all.”

His sentiments were echoed by Mary Logan, general counsel for the American Dental Assn., who said that the organization has declared it unethical for dentists to “refuse to provide care solely . . . on the basis that a patient has HIV.”

Jeff Levi, director of public policy development for the AIDS Action Foundation, called the action long overdue.

“Dental care has been the health care service that has been the most difficult for people with HIV to obtain,” he said.

The controversy over health professionals’ reluctance to treat AIDS-infected individuals is as old as the epidemic itself and continues despite increasing knowledge about transmission of the virus.

HIV cannot be passed through casual contact or through the air but is generally transmitted through sex, contact with infected blood and through the sharing of contaminated hypodermic needles.

To protect themselves, health care workers have long been encouraged to take certain universal precautions--such as the wearing of protective gloves.

Investigators have documented 37 cases in which health professionals became infected through exposure to HIV-positive patients and have identified another 78 cases of possible workplace-related transmission.

Most of the infections occurred when workers were accidentally jabbed by a needle contaminated with infected blood.

In the Houston suit, the government alleges that Castle Dental Center, which owns a chain of dental and orthodontic facilities, improperly halted treatment to a client after learning he was HIV-positive.

As a result he suffered “extreme humiliation, emotional distress, frustration and anxiety” and had to pay another orthodontist to complete his treatment, the suit said.

No Castle official nor the company’s lawyer would comment.

In the New Orleans case, the suit alleged that Drew B. Morvant, a dentist, refused treatment to two clients after learning they were HIV-positive.

One had received dental care from Morvant from April, 1981, through last January, when the dentist learned about his infection. The second client was turned away because of his HIV-positive status, according to the suit.

Morvant did not respond to requests for comment.

Both suits seek injunctions barring the defendants from refusing treatment to persons who are HIV-positive and call for unspecified damages and civil penalties. The disabilities act provides for a penalty of up to $50,000 for a first offense and $100,000 for a second offense.

Researcher Lianne Hart in Houston contributed to this story.