Supreme Court denies AIDS appeal

WASHINGTON - A dental hygienist demoted when his employer discovered he has the virus that causes AIDS has lost a Supreme Court appeal. <br> <br> The high court -- which issued its ruling yesterday -- could have used the case to further clarity the rights of the disabled under a landmark civil rights law. <br> <br> Spencer Waddell tested positive for HIV in 1996 while employed as a dental hygienist for an Atlanta dentist. Dentist Eugene Witkin found out about Waddell&#39;s HIV status and removed Waddell from his job treating patients the next year. Witkin offered Waddell a clerical job paying half as much, but Waddell refused and was fired. <br> <br> Waddell sued in 1999, claiming discrimination under the Americans With Disabilities Act. He lost in lower federal courts. The lower courts found that the risk of HIV transmission -- although negligible -- was sufficient to justify Waddell&#39;s removal from a job in which he had contact with patients&#39; mouths. <br> <br> The Supreme Court ruled in 1998 that people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus are covered by the disabilities law. <br> <br> Waddell&#39;s lawyers from the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund -- a gay rights organization -- argue that the risk of serious harm from Waddell&#39;s infection was ``vanishingly small&#39;&#39; and entirely theoretical.