for maintaining community life, such as housing, medical care, and property division, when
LGBTI people form a family, and legislations and revisions are required for this purpose.
2) Stigma and Discrimination Against People Living with HIV
A) Cases of Refusal of Surgery for HIV-Positive People by Medical Institutions and
Legal and Institutional Problems
In Sep. 2020, an HIV-positive person suffered an accident in which his finger was
amputated while working in a factory and was taken to a hospital, but was denied surgery
because he was HIV-positive. The hospital said that it was possible, at first, when inquired
about a joint surgery, but when it was revealed that they were infected with HIV, the hospital
refused by stating that “there was no isolation room and there is a high risk of infection
during surgery.”
The NHRCK determined, on Aug. 31, 2022, that the hospital's refusal to operate constitutes
discrimination against people living with HIV.491) This is because surgery does not require
special measures or facilities for infectious diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, and it is sufficient
to follow the general measures for infection prevention at medical institutions.
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the causative agent of Acquired Immunodeficiency
Syndrome (AIDS). An HIV-positive person is a person who has HIV in the body, and an
AIDS patient refers to a person with HIV who develops an infection or a malignant tumor
due to the destruction of the immune system. With the introduction of antiretroviral therapy
in the mid-1990s and the dramatic development of drugs since the 2000s, HIV/AIDS is an
infectious disease that can be managed as a chronic disease by suppressing its spread to
others with steady drug treatment.
However, despite the development of medicine, prejudice and discrimination against the
people living with HIV is an unresolved problem. In particular, the delay in proper treatment
due to discrimination in the medical process is a problem that is directly related to the health
of the infected person. According to the UN AIDS Program’s (UNAIDS)492) HIV Stigma
491) NHRCK, Decided on Aug. 31, 2022, 21JinJeong0254920·21JinJeong0254900 (Combined)
203
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