Health Care Employee Threat to Others

In the health care industry, the court looks at a four-part test to evaluate the direct threat a health care employee with an infectious disease poses to others:

• Nature of the risk — how the disease is transmitted.
• Duration of the risk — how long the individual is infectious.
• Severity of the risk — what is the potential harm to third parties.
• Probability that transmission will cause varying degrees of harm.

In the case of an HIV-positive dental hygienist, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that while scientific evidence showed a small risk of transmission, the degree of¹