Dentist suspended for refusing to treat lesbian patient

Boston Globe ^ | 07/18/03 | Associated Press

[bedolido]

FRANKLIN, N.H. (AP) The state has suspended the license of a New Hampshire dentist for refusing to treat a lesbian patient and for berating another patient.

The Board of Dental Examiners found that in March 1999, Joseph Roper Jr. refused to treat Tricia Thompson, a patient of his for almost three years, for a painful infected tooth after he found out that she considered herself married to a female partner.

[Dante3]

We had one dentist who turned out to be horrible. We just changed dentists. I certainly would not have trief to force him to treat us. I should have the freedom to choose my dentist and dentists should have freedom to choose their patients.

The type of patients I would avoid like the plague are those who file frivolous lawsuits against anyone.

[Acolyte]

>>This Dentist is/was simply trying to protect himself as well as his patients by not treating someone who is at a higher risk of AIDS. What the hell is wrong with that?<<

Are lesbians more or less likely than straight people to have HIV?

[annyokie]

That's not true. HIV/AIDS has four methods of transmission: semen, vaginal fluid, saliva and breast milk.

(Sorry to post this at lunchtime, All.)

[clamper1797]

Hey .... removing carpet fibers from between someones teeth is tough work .....

[Dimensio]

Since when were lesbians at a significantly higher risk for HIV/AIDS?

[cinFLA]

This dentist sounds like an insensitive clod, perhaps an outright jerk. But I don't understand why he shouldn't be entitled to treat or not treat whomever he wants.

Particularly when they seem to not want to pay him according to his published policy.

[Treebeard]

Maybe she just misunderstood the doc when he said "I'm going to drill you and fill you..."

[vetvetdoug]

Unless this was a life threatening emergency or unless he was the only dentist in a geographical area, this guy is getting the shaft from the licensing board. A dentist can pick and choose his clients just like a client can choose a dentist. There is no law against this dentist speaking his beliefs. The New Hampshire board is showing its leftest liberal leanings for suspending this license, we are in a freemarket economy (at least that is what people say)and if the public disagreed with his beliefs, then he will lose business accordingly. I doubt he would lose his business if he refused homosexuals but it is wrong for the state to suspend his license for doing so.

[jimt]

I guess in a free country he's free to be a bellicose lout and send his practice down the toilet.

Indeed he would - if it were a free country.

A key point in the article is that he's NOT free to choose his patients, and that a psychiatrist must certify him as appropriately celebrating lesbianism before he can practice again.

It's no longer a free country.

[Rider on the Rain]

I don't think lesbians have a higher incidence of AIDS. In fact, I would imagine they have very low incidence.

That said, the dentist should be free to refuse to treat any patient.

I think you're dead right in both statements.

[Labyrinthos]

I'm an attorney, and there is no way on God's green earth I will ever knowingly represent a sodomite.

Send them to me. I represent many gay and lesbians, and most of them are well educated, high wage earners with at least a seven figure net worth, who are willing to pay for quality legal serivces. They pay their bills on time, pay a lot of attention to their cases, and are often willing to pursue matters to make a point even if the financial reward is break-even at the end of the case. I wish my straight clients were as polite, well-mannered, dedicated, appreciative, and financially successful and responsible as my gay and lesbian clients.

[Labyrinthos]

This Dentist is/was simply trying to protect himself as well as his patients by not treating someone who is at a higher risk of AIDS.

In contrast to gay men, I suspect that the incidents of AIDS in the lesbian community is as low as the monogamous heterosexual community.

[kegler4]

"not to continue in your grossness... what about "ladies days" fluids accidentally being transfered during (aledged) lovemaking (again, my apologies to any homosexual freepers and the admin moderator)"

Let's use a little common sense here. This guy is not worried about where this woman's mouth had been or what diseases she might have. If he were, he'd have to ask every male patient if he had recently had oral sex with a woman. After all, the man's mouth could have been in the same location as the lesbian's mouth (except with a different person).

This guy has moral objections and to homosexuality and as a result wouldn't treat the woman. Pure and simple.

[Labyrinthos]

Ann Coulter... A Conservative Male's Natural Viagra

She's also a turn-on for quite a few conservative women I know.

[kegler4]

"I'm an attorney, and there is no way on God's green earth I will ever knowingly represent a sodomite."

So you wouldn't represent me because I've had oral sex with a woman or because a woman has had oral sex with a man? That must limit your business severely.

[HELLRAISER II]

You're right of course as far as the current law's state, but I remind you however that being Asian, Black or a Jew isn't a choice. On the other hand homosexual acts are a choice that can lead to Aids/HIV for yourself as well as others.

[HELLRAISER II]

I'm not far behind you, I turn 39 in August and will have been married twenty years in February.

[amused]

LOL....reading this story, my first thought was of him.

[HELLRAISER II]

I don't think so, but that's not a proven fact so I think the dentist has every right to choose his patients. I know that's not legal, but it should be.

[HELLRAISER II]

Yes you're right, but I don't think that they are equally as dangerous. Yes I know having HIV period is like being a little bit pregnant but I also believe that vaginal fluid, Saliva and breast milk are less likely to infect someone. The reason being that membranes are ruptured during actual sexual intercourse whether it's heterosexual or homosexual acts.