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The Kansas Senate approved a bill to
update public health statutes related to quarantine of individuals with
infectious diseases. Sen. Marci Francisco (D-Lawrence) expressed concern that
the previous law explicitly excluded HIV and AIDS as grounds for quarantine,
because those diseases are not spread by casual contact, but the new House Bill
2183 did not contain the exclusion. The senate rejected Francisco’s amendment
to restore the exclusion.
At the committee hearing for the
bill, the head of the Kansas Equality Coalition, which lobbies for gay rights,
also stated that his group was worried about eliminating the explicit exclusion
of AIDS patients from the quarantine law. However, members of both parties
commented that eliminating the AIDS exclusion reflects the modern understanding
that there is no fear of the disease spreading like some other infectious
diseases.
According to Sen. David Haley
(D-Kansas City), the Kansas Department of Health and Environment had made it
clear that there was no reason to quarantine an AIDS patient. Haley said that
if the bill were capable of discriminating against anyone, he would not support
it. Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook (R-Shawnee) felt that Francisco’s amendment would
make the bill discriminatory, as it would separate people with a specific
disease from others. However, Sen. Laura Kelly (D-Topeka) argued that the
amendment would clarify the law’s intent. Kelly commented that, unless it were
specified in administrative rules and regulations, the bill would permit
isolation and quarantine of individuals with HIV and AIDS despite the fact the
Department of Health has maintained that HIV/AIDS patients do not need to be
quarantined.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
