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

Abstract

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.