Boy With AIDS Should Be Back in School, Doctor Says

KOKOMO, Ind. — A county medical officer ruled today that 14-year-old AIDS victim Ryan White, whose highly publicized battle to attend school has won international attention, poses no health threat to his fellow pupils and teachers and should be allowed to return to classes.

Dr. Alan J. Alder, chief medical officer for Howard County, made the ruling after examining Ryan this morning.

At an appeals hearing last week, school officials were ordered to admit Ryan pending approval from Adler. Officials of Western Middle School have sought for more than a year to keep him out.

Ryan’s mother, Jeanne, said Adler gave her son a regular exam but “looked more into how Ryan was emotionally and how it would be for him to go back to school.”

Ryan was banned from his seventh-grade classes after his acquired immune deficiency syndrome was diagnosed. A hemophiliac, he contracted the disease from tainted blood products, his mother said.

School officials announced Tuesday that they would hold county health officials responsible for any liability if Adler recommended that Ryan be admitted to classes.

The decision on the educational placement of Ryan was assigned to Adler last week by the Indiana Board of Special Education Appeals. At a hearing in Lafayette, the panel ordered the school to request a health certificate from Adler and to admit White contingent on Adler’s recommendation.