Published September, 2015

Settlement Agreement Between the United States of America and Mercy Suburban Hospital Under the Americans With Disabilities Act (2015)

A Pennsylvania-area hospital whose surgeon refused to perform bariatric surgery on a woman because she is living with HIV settled an action brought by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in which the hospital agreed to pay compensation to the woman in the amount of $20,000 and $5,000 in punitive damages to the DOJ. Mercy Hospital, which is finalizing a sale of its assets to another corporation, is required to institute and post a nondiscrimination policy and to train staff working in Mercy's bariatric services department of the application of the ADA to HIV until the sale is finalized, after which these and other non-financial portions of the settlement agreement will no longer be in affect. 

The case was brought and the settlement agreement was negotiated by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Romero. The legal representative who filed the complaint with the Department of Justice for the woman seeking bariatric services, which had been recommended by her primary care physician, was attorney Adrian Lowe of AIDS Law Project of PA.