Appeals court wants more information on discrimination case

By: TERI FIGUEROA - Staff Writer | Wednesday, February 2, 2005 12:11 AM PST ∞

In a case that pits gays' rights against religious convictions, a state appeals court has asked a lesbian to explain her arguments that a doctor should not have the right to refuse medical treatment based on the doctor's religious beliefs about gays.

In an order filed late last week, the 4th District Court of Appeal said it also wants to address the legal issue of whether a doctor can accommodate those religious beliefs by referring the patient to another doctor and then picking up the tab for the additional costs the patient may incur.

The appellate court order is the latest in a series of legal battles over the case of a lesbian who sued a Vista medical practice in 2001 after doctors there, citing their religious beliefs, refused to artificially inseminate her, even though insemination was a part of their practice.

Guadalupe "Lupita" Benitez sued two doctors and the North Coast Women's Care Medical Group in Vista after they refused to inseminate her and instead referred her to another doctor, according to an attorney on the case.

Last fall, a San Diego Superior Court judge ruled that the doctors could not raise a defense that they were exercising their religious liberty when they did not move ahead with the procedure.

In response to that ruling, the Alliance Defense Fund, which takes on religious freedom cases and has joined this case, asked the appellate court to step in.

It is within the appellate court's purview to take on cases before they have gone to trial, if the request is made to do so. But the appellate court doesn't often do so, Tyler said.

"This is significant," Alliance attorney Robert Tyler said Tuesday. "Obviously, it (the religious liberty argument) has merit."

Jenny Pizer of the Lambda Legal Fund said the case contains important and emerging legal issues and that she was not surprised the appellate court stepped in before the case has gone to trial. Lambda Legal, which has joined the case in support of Benitez, takes on cases involving gay and lesbian rights.

Pizer said the request from the appellate court does not change the case.

The case is set for trial in May, but the appellate court may choose to put the lower court proceedings on hold while it sorts out the legal questions at hand.

The case found itself in the appellate court once before. A few years ago, the trial court tossed Benitez's case because it found that a federal law regulating employee benefits plans barred state civil rights claims against doctors when the services were paid for by an employer-provided health plan.

The 4th District Court of Appeal later ruled that the trial court erred when it tossed the case.

Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at (760) 740-3517 or tfigueroa@nctimes.com.

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