The physician's role in helping smoke-sensitive patients to use the Americans With Disabilities Act to secure smoke-free workplaces and public spaces

Physicians have an important role to play in supporting patients' claims that they need a smoke-free workplace. Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is considered a health hazard, especially in people with chronic lung and heart disease. In 1995, a US appeals court ruled that Americans with chronic illness could use the Americans With Disabilities Act to encourage employers and owners of public businesses to ban smoking. Physicians will need to document that the patient requires a smoke-free environment and can also educate employers and businesspeople about the dangers of ETS.
Many persons suffer from a variety of conditions that render them particularly vulnerable to injuries caused by environmental tobacco smoke. Fortunately, the Americans With Disabilities Act may provide such patients with a legal right to a smoke-free environment. We examine herein how the act can be used by these patients, how the act works, and how physicians, who often advise such patients to seek smoke-free environments, can help their patients obtain the clean air to which they are entitled under law. JAMA. 1996;276:909-913