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Date Posted: 20:43:02 07/24/02 Wed
Author: moonotter
Subject: Italian High Court Rules HIV-Infected People Entitled to Disability Benefits

Italian High Court Rules HIV-Infected People Entitled to Disability Benefits




By Rossella Lorenzi
FLORENCE, Italy (Reuters Health) Jul 10 - HIV-infected people are entitled to ask for disability benefits, even if they tolerate antiviral therapies and do not show evidence of immunodeficiency, Italy's highest appeals court established in a landmark ruling.

The Corte di Cassazione, whose ruling was made public on Wednesday, made the decision in the case of a 35-year-old woman, who in 1996 had asked a court in Florence for social security benefits. The woman, who had advanced HIV infection, made the request as she needed daily pharmacologic treatments and was unable to work profitably.

The Florence court denied the monthly disability check on the grounds that there wasn't a reduction of working ability, as the woman appeared to tolerate drug treatment well. The court also rejected the argument of a "psychic collapse" related to the knowledge of suffering from a fatal disease.

The Cassazione court reversed the ruling, pointing out that "tolerating antiviral therapies doesn't exclude effects of severe disease on working capability."

The ruling also called "summary" the denial of mental disability, and established that whenever requests from HIV/AIDS patients are examined, the psychological impact of the disease has to be carefully considered.

"Many HIV/AIDS sufferers will ask for disability benefits following this ruling," Angelo Magrini, the president of the Associazione Italiana Politrasfusi, told Reuters Health. "It has been our battle to have these benefits recognized. Yet for many it isn't enough. I am referring to those infected as a result of tainted blood products. They are still waiting for justice to be done."




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Reuters Health Information 2002. © 2002 Reuters Ltd.
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