The case was perfect for the Philadelphia-based AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania.
The client was a 56-year-old man with AIDS, legally blind and with heart disease, desperately needing nursing home care. A local facility declined to care for him because its employees would be "uncomfortable" with an AIDS patient.
What made the case unusual was that it happened not in the late '80s, when the epidemic was new, the facts few and the myths plentiful, but in April.
Executive director Ronda B. Goldfein says the case of the Williamsport, Pa., man - now the subject of fair housing complaints before state and federal agencies - is why the AIDS Law Project is needed and is thriving after 15 years.
Despite strides made in educating the public about HIV and AIDS and the ways in which the virus is transmitted, ignorance and discrimination persist.
"Our biggest problem is the perception that [the epidemic is] over," Goldfein said.
But the epidemic continues and patients' needs haven't changed, they've just evolved with increased medical knowledge, improved drug treatments and longer life spans. So too have their legal needs.
In the beginning, Goldfein said, the issue was discrimination: people rejected for jobs, fired, or denied promotions; denied health-insurance coverage for expensive treatment; or denied access to housing and public services.
Of the 1,700 calls the AIDS Law Project gets annually, Goldfein said, only about 10 percent now involve alleged discrimination because of AIDS or HIV status. Today's clients, she said, are more likely looking for legal help to remain at home as the disease progresses, to obtain disability benefits, write wills or arrange trusts for their children.
"This is all because . . . [people with HIV] are alive and well," Goldfein said.
One thing has not changed: The AIDS Law Project remains free and the nation's only independent, nonprofit public-interest law center devoted to the legal needs of people with HIV and AIDS.
In other cities, social service groups formed to respond to the epidemic, such as the Gay Men's Health Crisis in New York, which brought in lawyers to serve clients.
Goldfein said the AIDS Law Project board has rejected overtures to merge with social agencies or larger law firms.
"We feel our clients need to know that this is an independent place to go where there are no divided allegiances," Goldfein said.
As recalled by founder David W. Webber, 48, independence was almost accidental.
