Word: gostin
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...virus through methods ranging from sexual contact to the splattering of blood. In Louisiana the malicious transmission of the AIDS virus carries a maximum punishment of $5,000 and 10 years in prison -- last month, for the first time, a man was prosecuted and convicted under the law. Lawrence Gostin, head of the U.S. AIDS Litigation Project, recommends education and counseling for HIV-infected people to convince them that they have responsibility to tell others about their condition: "I don't believe for a minute that harsh criminal punishment is making people change their behavior...
...Lawrence Gostin, executive director of the American Society for Law and Medicine, said AIDS victims need social protection as well as medical attention...
...status, and to discriminate against this status is just as vexatious as any other kind of discrimination," Gostin said...
Another recent decision has raised questions about the social vulnerability of high-risk AIDS groups. Last year the court ruled that state sodomy laws -- which have been around since 1662 -- do not unconstitutionally invade individual privacy. Notes Attorney Gostin: "The decision left the door wide open to states which already have an irrational prejudice against gays and are hysterical about AIDS to introduce more coercive measures against homosexuals." Some observers even foresee attempts to control fertility in black and Hispanic communities where intravenous-drug abuse and AIDS are rampant. "I am certain there will be a lot of calls...
...Henry said, 'Give me liberty or give me death,' he wasn't talking about AIDS." Still, it is now clear that the more the disease spreads, the more the civil liberties of its victims are likely to suffer. Necessarily, public well-being takes precedence over individual rights, notes Larry Gostin, Harvard professor of health law and a board member of the American Civil Liberties Union. "The danger," he says, "lies in using public health the same way some use national security -- as an overvague justification with no proof that it will do any good...