Gloves a Curse for a Nurse –But Not a Disability
According to the Legal Intelligencer, in Scanlon v Temple University, the jury reasoned that the nurse was not disabled since she could control her symptoms by avoiding latex and taking medications.
US Magistrate Judge Jacob Hart of the US District Court
for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania asked the jury to
decide whether the limitations that the nurse’s allergy
imposes substantially limit any major life activity. If
they decided in her favor, Hart ruled that they would then
decide whether latex is used in the health care profession
to a sufficient degree that it substantially limits the
nurse’s ability to do her job.
According to Scanlon’s testimony, she struggles to breathe
when she comes into contact with latex. She also claimed
that her allergy limits the major life activities of
breathing, sleeping, eating, working and interacting with
others.
But Temple Hospital’s lawyers argued the nurse had no
evidence that she suffers from any limitation caused by her
allergy when she is in a latex-free environment, and if she
avoided latex, her major life activities, with the
exception of working, would not be limited.
Temple’s lawyers further argued that the nurse failed to
show that her latex allergy precludes her from working in
the nursing field or in any class of nursing jobs.
– Camilla Klein editors@plansponsor.com