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AIDS possibility Costs Job |
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June 13, 2000
TOKYO, JUNE 12 (AP) - A court on Monday ordered a company and a hospital to pay damages to a Brazilian of Japanese descent for invading his privacy by conducting an HIV test, disclosing the results without permission and then firing him from his job.
The Chiba District Court, near Tokyo, awarded a total of 6.6 million yen (dlrs 61,600) in damages to the 35-year-old man, a court official said.
The man, whose name was withheld by the court, was dismissed by Takigawa Chemical Industries Ltd., a plastic-processing firm in Ichikawa, just outside Tokyo, in December, 1997, after a hospital conducted the HIV test without his permission.
Presiding Judge Yukio Nishijima told the court that the man's dismissal was invalid, said the court official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"The hospital violated the plaintiff's privacy by conducting the HIV test without his consent and conveying the results to the company," Nishijima said in Monday's ruling. The verdict was read by Nahomi Ichimiya, another court judge, as Nishijima was assigned to another court.
A Takigawa Chemical Industries official, speaking on condition of anonymity, refused to comment on the ruling, saying that court papers had yet to be made available.
The Japanese-Brazilian had demanded a total of 20 million yen (187,000), but the court said his mental anguish was not as serious as he claimed because he already knew he had contracted HIV through a blood transfusion, Kyodo News agency said.
Kyodo quoted the man as saying after the ruling that he was pleased with it, "but I will never forgive the company and the hospital."
It was the first damages award in Japan imposed on a medical institution for violating the privacy of an HIV-positive individual, the report said.
Marii Goto, director of the HIV and Human Rights Information Center, a private civic group supporting those infected with HIV in Japan, welcomed the ruling.
"There are many cases in Japan of being fired for reasons of HIV infection. Firms should provide thorough education on AIDS to their employees ...," Kyodo quoted Goto as saying.
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