Aids – the Duty to Warn

Throughout the Age of AIDS film many topics that were related to AIDS were brought up that I did not know anything about before. I did not know that there could so many strings attached to a disease and have such an influence in people’s lives whether it was negative or positive.

HIV and AIDS information is very sensitive because of the potential stigmas that are attached to having one of these conditions. One stigma would be how the person contracted the disease because some people would make the assumption that they contracted it through sexual intercourse or by sharing needles, when in reality they could have contracted the condition from their mother during childbirth. Another stigma would be that only drug users or gay men contract the condition even though this a myth, it is still a stigma. For many people who have HIV or AIDS worry constantly about people knowing and fear of being discriminated because they have this condition. It is not like people want to walk around wearing a label saying,” Hey, look at me, I have HIV”. Anyone is at risk of contracting HIV or AIDS, especially if they have a high-risk behavior. Thankfully the confidentiality of HIV and AIDS

Confidentiality in the Healthcare arena can be simply defined as the moral and ethical duty of the Practitioner to keep all the patient’s bio-data under lock and key, and offer a disclosure of those facts that the patient is legally mandated to disclose or deems fit to enhance their positive health outcome. According to the Segen’s Medical Dictionary, “Confidentiality is the ethical principle that a physician may not reveal any information disclosed in the course of medical care, unless the patient who disclosed that information poses a threat to him, herself or others’’

When the AIDS and HIV virus crept its way into the human-race, it quickly, and without warning, claimed the lives of millions. Then when its destructive wake had finally been abated, it left behind several untold mysteries. Throughout the course of this class, all the new material we have been exposed to has added some unique piece to the puzzle of the AIDS epidemic. Each puzzle pieces have ranged from speculations on how the AIDS epidemic had begun, to what exactly has the epidemic done. We have also tackled the question and how it forced a change in society. Our newest piece of the puzzle is the documentary “The Age of AIDS,” by William Cran. Although this documentary did not surprise me in its content, it did, however, affirm certain types

Luckily, the perception of HIV has changed since then, along with the negative stigma and association with the homosexual community. Activist groups have stepped in to raise awareness to prevent the spread of HIV and allow for a knowledgeable society to emerge. They’re trying to end rumors of ignorance on transmission, which has no scientific backing. HIV cannot be transmitted through any casual contact, including drinking fountains, shaking hands, sitting on a bus, and even kissing will not transfer the virus. These activists cannot improve the

Plaintiffs allege that defendants had prior knowledge that their daughter was a target for murder by a psychiatric patient and failed to warn the victim or anyone capable of stopping act. Defendants had notified campus police of patient’s intent, but after detaining him briefly, chose to release him because he “appeared rational.” Plaintiffs allege liability based on defendants’ failure to warn of impending danger, and failure to confine the patient. The Superior Court of California sustained the defendants’ demurrers to plaintiffs’ complaints. Appeal followed.

This population is not one population that the public ridicules so much. However they are in fear of these inmates getting out of prison and transferring the disease without notifying the other person that they are infected with HIV or AIDS. This can be a bigger problem than what people think especially if the partner to the inmate is unaware of the disease and goes to another partner with the disease they now unknowingly carry. This can become a huge threat to society. These inmates need to also know that knowingly having intercourse with someone and knowingly being infected during intercourse without telling the other person can be a felony which could land them back behind bars.

In 1991, Elizabeth Taylor said “It’s bad enough that people are dying of AIDS, but no one should die of ignorance.” Why was ignorance such an issue when a deadly disease was claiming lives daily? The definition of ignorance is a lack of knowledge or information. The AIDS epidemic that hit the United States over thirty years ago, sent fear across the country. With so much fear, why wasn’t there more information available? Why were people dying of “ignorance”?

When a person finds out that someone has AIDS they assume they can get it. Yes AIDS are contagious but it is not contagious by contact. You can only get it through blood and unprotected sex. People with AIDS are often mistreated. People without AIDS treat them differently because they are not as healthy as they are. People with AIDS are bullied, and because of that they may commit suicide. Most may just move residences and jobs because they do not want more people to find out other than the people that may have already found out. “To avoid rejection and humiliation, Central Americans living with HIV may change residence, avoid seeking services in nearby health centers, or fargo medical attention altogether” (Gonzalez). In some people's eyes a family member may have AIDS but they think they are still healthy because their love for them. All people should be treated the same with or without AIDS. We are all still human and nobody with AIDS should be mistreated. Even though the person may have made a bad decision on whether to have protected sex or not they should still be treated equally. Some people don't even get through sex, they get it through birth because of the mother may have had it. That is one cause of an early death. Not all of people who has a mother with AIDS have been born with the infection. Sometimes they just don’t get the infection through birth which is a good thing. But to the kids that may have AIDS

It becomes more difficult to take the most ethical course of action when HIV or AIDS is encountered given that they have own ethical issues (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, 2000). Many such patients desire to avoid pubic judgment because of the fact that HIV can be transferred through sexual activity and by sharing drug equipment. They need their privacy to be maintained and their problem to be solved, therefore professionals working at the agency should respect these rights and prevent discrimination of persons with HIV/AIDS, or labeling with “drug user” or “homosexual” (Newcomb & Bentler,

Although confidentiality is considered to be of great importance in therapeutic relationship, one must not assume it to be independent. In particular, confidentiality ought to be compromised whenever it conflicts with a higher moral value, such as the duty to safeguard human life. Most often physicians do not know if to disclose the HIV status of their patients to known contacts or if failure to do so may give rise to liability if the known contact becomes HIV positive. This is one of the most controversial issues in reporting and partner notification

In todays society, people are accustomed to believe what they hear from a higher educated professional. Often times conceptions from doctors are factual, yet the language used can easily confuse the average person. When information was first released about the AIDs epidemic, certain groups were targeted in negative ways. Homosexuals and social pariahs were concluded as the ones who could contract AIDs, and everyone else was deemed safe. At the time, this conclusion seemed logical to doctors because the majority of their patients fell into this category. Soon homosexuals were looked at in a negative light once the disease was named GRID or ‘Gay Cancer’. After physicians “alerted the medical community” (Reeves, 14) about AIDs, other clinicians

Many individuals are afraid to get tested for HIV and are afraid of the stigma associated with HIV when disclosing their status to partners. They are often subject to their own psychological and other social stress which often hinders appropriate management of the infection. This is not always without reason as disclosure of an HIV status can lead to exclusion from ones family, friend-circle or dismissal from the workplace. However disclose to a family member, partner or friend can provide psychological and later physical support. Also the fear of individuals they love finding out that they are HIV positive may lead to anxiety or isolation. Non-disclosure can often affect healthcare and management of the persons’ disease as the fear of dependents finding out will require the individual to hide taking the medication and use personal funds to pay for treatment to avoid the medical insurance company from informing co-dependants (Alonzo & Renolds 1995).

In medicine one of the things every patient is entitled to, no matter what, is their privacy. Since ancient times the privacy between a doctor and a patient has been somewhat of sacred thing. The patient has the right to release their health information to whomever they please. Even for doctors to access a patient’s medical history there has to be consent from the patient. In Mair’s article she reports about the case PD v Harvey in which PD upon asking for her future husband’s (FH) HIV test results was denied access because of lack of consent from FH. FH because of his right to confidentiality, despite having the disease, was able to lie and forge a pathology report which reported his HIV status as negative and in turn PD was lead to believe that FH actually received a negative result. If PD had been allowed the right to view the positive result or maybe even if the doctors would have taken into consideration her well-being PD could have avoided being infected (2009). Before testing a patient for HIV/AIDS a doctor should consult the patient in this consultation the patient should be educated about the disease, the testing process, and actions to be taken upon a positive result, including disclosure to sexual

HIV/AIDS infection has been an important challenge for public health authorities for more than a decade. Although the annual number of new infections has decreased substantially since the initial epidemic in the 1980s, HIV/AIDS infection still represents an important burden for society and for the health care system1,2. According to the CDC, in the United States about 1.2 million people have HIV and about 14% (168,000) of those do not know they have the infection1,2. In 2011, the Public Health Agency of Canada reported that 25% of people with HIV were unaware that they are infected3. Because HIV/AIDS infection is a preventable disease, testing and detecting infected people represent a crucial prevention measure to control the epidemic. We propose that an anonymous HIV testing program should be implemented because there is enough evidence that the potential benefits for the public outweigh the potential harms.