28 Feb Mexico Can’t Dismiss HIV+ Soldiers
In a landmark — and admirably progressive — decision, the Supreme Court of Mexico had held that dismissing HIV+ soldiers from the military is unconstitutional:
In a case brought by 11 members of the military, the court declared unconstitutional a law requiring naval officers and soldiers with HIV/AIDS to leave the armed forces.
Following the decision, Mexico’s armed forces will have to prove HIV-infected soldiers and naval officers are unfit for service with certified medical reports in order to fire them.
“Everyone who viewed this law as unconstitutional has shown that it violates the rules of equality” enshrined in the Mexican Constitution, Guillermo Ortiz Mayagoitia, the court’s president, said during the proceedings.
The court’s decision will be taken into account by judges throughout Mexico, where some 300 HIV-infected military personnel have been fired over the past years.
Of the 11 who brought the Supreme Court case, four will be immediately readmitted. A fifth person has died, but the family will receive compensation. Six more cases will be reviewed on Thursday.
According to The Jurist, the six pending cases involve soldiers who have developed AIDS.
This is an obvious case of the law trumping common sense. Its all fun and games until a soldier with HIV/AIDS gets wounded and either passes on his disease to medical personnel or his comrades or can’t receive immediate treatment because no one around him wants to take the chance of getting HIV.