4th edition of ‘AIDS and the Law’ now available
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: David W. Webber
NEW YORK (World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, 2007) – Two decades after its first publication, the 4th edition of AIDS and the Law, the most comprehensive and up-to-date legal reference book on the HIV/AIDS epidemic, is now available, its publisher announced today.
Aspen Publishers/Wolters Kluwer Law & Business said the book – originally published in 1987 – now includes 14 chapters spanning more than 1,219 pages, presenting the scholarship of 10 leading authorities in academia and private legal practice. Topics range from employment issues to criminal law to immigration law. Produced in a convenient binder format, AIDS and the Law will be updated annually to subscribers.
“This new edition of AIDS and the Law will be welcomed by those of us who counsel and represent persons living with HIV/AIDS; by lawyers in many areas of practice and by judges who are called on to wrestle with the complexities of ‘AIDS law;’ by legal scholars; and by policy advisors and legislators,” Daniel Bruner, director of legal services at the Whitman-Walker Clinic in Washington, D.C., writes in his foreword.
The new edition – dedicated to “advocates worldwide, seeking to make the law an instrument of justice and compassion for those affected by the HIV epidemic” – includes:
- An explanation of why asymptomatic HIV infection is a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act and similar federal and state nondiscrimination statutes;
- An analysis of factors involved in complying with state statutory standards on HIV testing and confidentiality of HIV-related information;
- A review of current options for immigrants with HIV seeking permanent residence in the U.S. and the impact of HIV as a statutory basis for exclusion;
- A critical assessment of the courts’ rulings on knowing transmission, or risk of transmission, of HIV as a criminal offense under federal and state laws;
- Guidance on successfully challenging denial of insurance-benefits claims under both Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and non-ERISA employee-benefits plans.
AIDS and the Law was edited by David W. Webber, an attorney in private practice in Philadelphia, where he specializes in HIV/AIDS and other infectious-disease issues. He is of counsel to the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania, a nonprofit, public-interest law firm he founded in 1988.
by David W. Webber