Panel rules for HIV-positive man denied care

PORTLAND – The Maine Human Rights Commission has ruled in favor of a Portland man who claimed that a surgeon refused to operate on him because he has HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

By a 3-1 vote, the panel found reasonable grounds to believe that Steven DesRochers, 39, was unlawfully discriminated against by Dr. Paul Kamins, an orthopedic surgeon in Belfast.

Courts have ruled that health care providers cannot deny critical services to patients with HIV on the basis of their disability. The landmark case, which went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, involved a Bangor dentist who refused to treat in his office a woman who was HIV-positive.

“I’m relieved,” DesRochers said after Monday’s ruling. “My big thing is, hopefully, this will not happen to someone else.”

DesRochers said he has not decided if he will sue Kamins. Commission rulings carry no penalties but are frequently used as the basis for mediation or lawsuits.

Kamins’ attorney, Joseph Hahn, did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Through his nurse, DesRochers contacted Kamins in January because DesRochers needed both of his hips replaced and Kamins had been recommended by a former colleague in Boston.

According to the commission investigator, Kamins called back a week later and sounded interested in doing the procedure. However, after the nurse informed Kamins that DesRochers was HIV positive, there was a long pause.

Kamins then commented that this would put his surgical team “at risk,” and he also had a family to consider.

“There was definite tone change in the conversation,” Robert Sorrenson, the nurse, recalled Monday.

A week later, Kamins called back and left a message, saying he was too busy to do the surgery and he could not recommend another doctor.