AIDS and Governmental Liability: State and Local Government Guide to Legislation, Legal Issues and Liability.

Despite its title, which suggests a broad treatment of HIV issues confronting state and local governments, this publication of the Urban, State and Local Government Law Section of the American Bar Association limits its coverage almost exclusively to HIV as an issue in employment and in providing health care.

In the introduction, the authors concede that not all issues confronting state and local governments are covered, but they explain that their focus is on the issues that present the greatest potential liability. Readers must look elsewhere for an overview of the legal aspects of other important, and perhaps more controversial, issues that typically involve state and local governments: needle exchange programs, housing programs for people with AIDS, testing sex offenders and enhanced criminal penalties for knowing transmission of HIV.

Divided into four chapters, AIDS and Government Liability covers HIV testing and confidentiality, workplace issues, AIDS and health care providers, and liability for HIV transmission in prisons and jails. Each chapter is thoroughly documented with endnote citations to legal authorities and other sources. The appendices reprint crucial materials pertaining to HIV: the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for preventing HIV transmission in health care settings, their recommendations on HIV-infected health care workers performing exposure-prone medical and surgical procedures, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's workplace safety rule on blood-borne pathogens.

The discussion of HIV testing is valuable in stressing the fact that it cannot be considered without also considering the appropriate use and control of the results. The coverage of workplace issues includes a summary of nondiscrimination standards, primarily those of the Rehabilitation Act and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). A related appendix provides a useful checklist for ADA compliance (although it is not specific to either HIV or AIDS as a disability, or to public as opposed to private, employers). The discussion of AIDS and health care providers gives a thorough overview of liability issues resulting from transfusions, transmission between health care workers and patients, and "fear of AIDS" claims. Finally, the book considers needle sharing and sexual activities in prisons, and potential HIV transmission in prison or jail clinics.

Somewhat surprisingly, the book fails to cite two other American Bar Association publications that go beyond the scope of the present volume and are worthy of attention: Sharon Rennert's excellent AIDS/HIV and Confidentiality and AIDS and Persons with Developmental Disabilities: The Legal Perspective. Although published some years ago, both are still available from the ABA.

David W. Weber AIDS legal expert Philadelphia